Production Notes
In writer/director Steven Antin’s finger-snapping, eye-popping and atmospheric
musical Burlesque, a time-honored tale of showbiz aspirations fulfilled – and the
hallmarks of a classic form of live entertainment – get a dazzling, fun movie makeover.
For Ali (Christina Aguilera), a small-town girl with a big voice, there had to be
somewhere her dreams could be fulfilled, rather than remain an empty goal.
Enter the world of burlesque.
Leaving behind hardship and an uncertain future for the entertainment capital
Los Angeles, Ali stumbles upon The Burlesque Lounge, a majestic but ailing theater
that is home to an inspired musical revue. Talking herself into a cocktail waitress job
from Tess (Cher), the club’s glamorous and forthright proprietor, headliner and
starmaker, Ali becomes a wide-eyed sponge to The Burlesque’s captivating acts. The
outrageous costumes and bold choreography hold the young ingénue enraptured.
That stage is where Ali was meant to be, so she vows to herself she’ll be on it
someday.
But first she has to navigate the theater’s many interpersonal relationships, for
better or for worse. She builds a friendship with a featured dancer (Julianne Hough),
finds an enemy in a troubled, jealous performer (Kristen Bell), and wins the affection of
Jack (Cam Gigandet), a handsome bartender and musician who takes Ali in as a
temporary roommate to help her get her financial footing. Eventually, with the help of a
sharp-witted yet sensitive stage manager (Stanley Tucci) and the club’s gender-bending
host (Alan Cumming), Ali makes her way from the bar to the stage. Her spectacular
voice and showmanship returns The Burlesque Lounge to its former glory, giving hope
to Tess that she won’t have to entertain the demands of her ex-husband (Peter
Gallagher) that she sell the place to a charismatic entrepreneur (Eric Dane) with an
enticing proposal.
As Ali’s star rises, it becomes thrillingly clear that the Burlesque Lounge lives to
titillate, fascinate and make dreams come true. But are its days – and colorful, sexy,
music-filled nights -- numbered?
Burlesque was produced by Donald De Line. The executive producers are Stacy
Kolker Cramer and Risa Shapiro.
The crew includes costume designer Michael Kaplan, music by Christophe Beck,
music supervisor Buck Damon, editor Virginia Katz, A.C.E., production designer Jon
Gary Steele, director of photography Bojan Bazelli, ASC, and choreographers Denise
Faye and Joey Pizzi.
The running time is 1 hour & 56 minutes.
The film is rated PG-13 for the following reasons: sexual content including
several suggestive dance routines, partial nudity, language and some thematic material.
Welcome to Burlesque:
When it comes to the vibrant, timeless world of burlesque and its recent pop
culture renaissance, writer-director Steven Antin had the kind of intimate connection
impossible to ignore: his sister and Antin had recognized there was a rich story in the art
form, its fans, and its performers. Encouraged by Screen Gems president Clint
Culpepper, Antin used his knowledge of burlesque to chart out Ali Rose’s incredible
journey from a bar in Iowa to a club on the Sunset Strip.
One objective for Antin was to remain true to the spirit of the art form, noting that
a popular misconception about burlesque is that it is synonymous with stripping. Antin
explains: “Burlesque only became associated with striptease in the United States in the
early twentieth century, and that was inspired by the Moulin Rouge in the 1890s in
Paris. Previously, burlesque was defined by comedy shows with singing and dancing,
storytelling and parodies. It was considered risqué and funny and appealed to the mass
culture.
The risqué elements of Burlesque, though, never venture beyond a cheeky
suggestion or a delicious double entendre. “Burlesque is sometimes risqué, always
sexy, but never sexual,” Antin continues. “Everything we do in this movie, like with
original burlesque, is intended to be something enjoyable. It’s a big, friendly, bawdy, fun
romp. Burlesque was entertainment for the masses in its original form, and it still is
today in Burlesque.”
Antin’s screenplay imbues the Burlesque Lounge with its own rich personality
and history. His desire was to present a somewhat magical space that could transport
its inhabitants to an alternate reality. “When Ali Rose walks into the Burlesque Lounge,
she’s falling down the rabbit hole, not unlike ‘Alice in Wonderland,’” says Antin. “She
descends this staircase and the first person she meets is Alexis, who looks suspiciously
like The Mad Hatter.”
With the script in place, Antin and Culpepper set out to find who would populate
the world of the Burlesque Lounge.
Who’s In the Spotlight:
To give Burlesque the marquee pizzazz they envisioned, the filmmakers knew
that only a megastar would do. It meant that they pursued Cher tirelessly before the
Oscar® winner agreed to end a seven year hiatus and return to the big screen. (They
even paid a surprise personal plea to Cher when she was on the Sony lot doing an ADR
session for MGM’s animated The Zookeeper.) The filmmakers believed that Cher
would respond to the role of Tess because the character is both familiar and
contemporary, somebody with a lot to give who’s in danger of having her dream taken
away. Antin notes: “Tess is one of a zillion people losing their shirt. That’s a very real
thing happening right now and I thought it was an interesting thing for this character to
be experiencing.”
“Cher said, ‘I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.’” Antin continues.
“She’s been up and she’s been down and she’s had good times and bad times. I knew
that she would relate to this character and this world. She’s the embodiment of female
empowerment, you know? And that’s what Burlesque is about: female empowerment.”
When it came to the role of Ali, the filmmakers had their eyes on Christina
Aguilera, who Antin had long been friends with. But what cinched it for him was her
appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” which made him certain that she had the chops to
portray Ali. “I had this instinct about her,” Antin notes. “I had seen her on ‘Saturday
Night Live’ doing something very difficult. I don’t think people realize how tough it is to
be funny in a live element like that. I knew she could do this based on her instincts in
those seemingly simple, but really incredibly difficult comedy skits. I knew she could do
any of the comedy in the movie and all of the drama.”
From Aguilera’s standpoint, her enthusiasm for the project began when she
connected to what Ali goes through. “I could relate to Ali as a whole: having this dream,
being denied, getting a chance, and getting people to take you seriously, because it
took a few times before someone bit and I got my big break,” says Aguilera.
Cam Gigandet, who stars in Screen Gems’ Priest and The Roommate, portrays
Jack, Ali’s confidante and fellow musician. “The preparation that he brings into the
room every day is pretty extraordinary,” Antin says of the young actor. “This very
handsome, young guy with an incredible body swaggers into the room and you expect
somebody really different than the person that you get to know. He’s a quiet,
introverted, very thoughtful guy. He has a process that’s really interesting. He really
cares about his craft and cares about what he’s doing, and he comes prepared.”
Gigandet took breaks from Priest, which also shot on the Sony lot, to see the
progress of the building of the set and to observe rehearsals for Burlesque’s many
musical numbers. “I had my whole cowboy get-up on, and I walked over there and they
were dancing and rehearsing and it was so wild!” Gigandet recalls. “I don’t know what I
had in my mind, but it was much smaller. The grandness of it and the attention to detail
was just amazing. It just blows my mind how well it’s done and how gorgeous the
lighting is.”
Stanley Tucci, who also appears in Screen Gems’ Easy A, portrays the
Burlesque Lounge’s stage manager Sean. Says Tucci, “Sean is Tess’s right-hand man,
confidante, ex-lover, and best friend, who will do anything for her and for this art form
that they both love.”
The filmmakers were enthusiastic to have Tucci join the production: “He just
makes the character real, funny and organic, and natural. He doesn’t have a moment,
not a nanosecond on film that isn’t truthful and honest. It doesn’t matter what you ask
him to do, or what you ask him to say, or what he does on film. That’s a fundamental,
intrinsic talent that you can’t teach somebody and you can’t learn. He’s so compelling
to watch because it’s just so honest.”
Aguilera wasn’t the only movie newcomer to join the cast. Singer and former
“Dancing With The Stars” performer Julianne Hough makes her screen debut in
Burlesque as dancer Georgia. “I’d seen Julianne on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and fell in
love with her,” explains Antin. “I thought she was somebody really special and an
incredible dancer, and drop-dead beautiful. She had something about her. She had
that ‘It’ factor.”
Alan Cumming had wowed Antin with his cabaret-style performances at LA’s
Geffen Playhouse, so he cast him as Burlesque lounge doorman Alexis, whose
rejoinder to all who enter is “We may not have windows, but we do have the best view
on the Sunset Strip.” To film the movie, Cumming had to balance the Burlesque
production schedule in Los Angeles with his New York schedule for CBS’s hit series
“The Good Wife.” “In New York, I’m playing a political analyst,” says Cumming. “I go
back and forth playing this very conservative guy to playing this crazy person.”
The ensemble has its share of characters that stand in the way of the success of
Ali and Tess. For Kristen Bell, Peter Gallagher and Eric Dane, their characters weren’t
villains, just survivalists coping with complicated circumstances.
Kristen Bell plays Nikki, whose attitude and self-destructiveness turn Burlesque
Lounge’s backstage into drama-filled turmoil. “I don’t think you can ever come into a
part that is seemingly the antagonist and, as the actor, believe that they’re bad,” Bell
says. “You have to look for the reasons why Nikki thinks what she’s doing is right.
She’s just more entitled than everyone else. She’s had it easy, she’s also worked very
hard to get where she is, and she’s going to defend her territory. Nikki doesn’t think
she’s bitchy. She thinks she’s trying to cope with everyone around her.”
Much of Nikki’s protectiveness and insecurity is wrapped up in her relationship
with Tess. Bell explains: “Nikki admires Tess so much. Tess is this beautiful, gorgeous,
talented woman who owns this club and who gave Nikki her start. She allowed Nikki to
dance, and they have been friends for a long, long time. When Ali weasels her way into
the relationship and Nikki’s no longer the favorite, it really makes her angry.”
Similarly, Peter Gallagher finds that his character Vince – Tess’s ex-husband -deals with the theater’s nasty financial situation to the best of his abilities. “He’s not
really an evil guy,” Gallagher says. “He just doesn’t want to end up defaulting on a loan
and having no credit and dying broke like every, every other musician he knows. This
was supposed to be something we could do that would be good for everybody and now
it’s slowly drowning me.”
On top of that, Gallagher was already quite familiar with the world of burlesque
prior to joining the production: “This is my mother-in-law’s world,” Gallagher explains.
“She danced at Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe and the Latin Quarter and at Radio
City in the ballet corps. Half the houses I’ve worked with on Broadway were burlesque
houses.”
“He brought so much to the table,” Antin says of Peter Gallagher. “He really had
an approach to the character. He had a whole history worked out for the character, and
it just came alive.”
Vince forms an alliance with wealthy developer Marcus, portrayed by Eric Dane,
who balanced the film production with his ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ shooting schedule. “He’s
described at the end as not the bad guy, just the wrong guy,” says Dane. “You walk a
fine line. You can end up being that villainous sort of antagonist. This character in
particular, in this movie, could be that guy. I don’t want him to be that guy.”
Playing bad has its charms, especially for someone who typically finds herself
playing good. “It’s fun to play the mean girl,” Bell says. “There are fewer rules. You
can do what you want because bad people don’t have much of a conscience.”
The Look of Burlesque:
Creating the faded opulence of the Burlesque Lounge required imagination,
ingenuity and a team of skilled, dedicated artists. Production designer Jon Gary Steele,
art director Chris Cornwell and a tireless construction team moved into Sony’s Stage 23
and commenced an arduous six-week process of erecting the Burlesque Lounge. In
order to make the set as fully functional and realistic as possible, the offices, hallways
and dressing rooms were all connected to the club and the stage. There were no
flyaway walls or separate sets to break the illusion that the Burlesque Lounge was
anything but an operating nightclub.
In order to expand upon the Burlesque Lounge’s “rabbit hole” otherworldly
identity, Antin and Steele chose to make the interior somewhat anachronistic. “We
wanted to make it feel almost like you’re walking a little bit back in time,” Steele
explains. “It’s very period looking. When Christina’s character first starts looking
through all the different glass in the stairwell, you see little pieces and you don’t know
really what it is until, you see this gilded, aged, beautiful red and gold theatre. We
wanted it to be decadent, but beautiful and elegant all at the same time.”
The inspiration to have the lounge evoke Paris in the 1920s was not entirely
aesthetic. Antin and Steele wanted to call up a bygone creative environment that not
only pleased the eye, but suited the Burlesque Lounge’s larger-than-life inhabitants.
Steele explains: “The lights, the chandeliers, the costumes – It has pizzazz.”
Steele didn’t have to take too many liberties, though. The Burlesque Lounge
found its precedent in the movie palaces and clubs that took their inspiration from
European architecture. Steele notes: “Theatres everywhere in America have molding
and gilded pieces. It’s all about the drapes and the gold and the chandeliers.”
Swarovski Elements helped provide a good deal of the razzle dazzle in the set
designs, providing some 80,000 elements weighing nearly 1.3 tons for the film’s
shimmering, sparkling crystal curtains.
Antin appreciated Steele’s meticulousness and his devotion to detail. “Gary
would pull pictures and images of French brasseries from the turn of the century and of
bistros and restaurants to opera houses. We looked at everything you could possibly
imagine and pieced it together. Everything is so detailed, right down to the brass on the
back of the booths, and the nail heads that are holding the leather down on the booths,
and how much we were going to age that leather.”
Eric Dane, for one, relished working in the environment. “It’s overwhelmingly
beautiful, this set,” Dane says. “It’s got all the wrinkles of a great character actor’s face.
It’s this very old great stage and it’s got this contemporary feel to it and then it’s got this
great, sexy burlesque vibe.”
When it came to constructing the stage, form followed function. Steele worked
closely with choreographers Joey Pizzi and Denise Faye to ensure that the stage and
bar sets would suit their needs. Steele even added his own contribution to the
choreography by suggesting that the mirrors behind the bar divide and swing open.
As for the important task of giving the women of Burlesque their daring, sexy
looks, the production turned to makeup department head Cindy Williams and hair
department head Martin Samuel. Creating Cher’s distinctive looks fell to makeup artist
Leonard Engelman and hair stylist Maria Serenella Radaelli, meanwhile, and makeup
artist Kristofer Buckle and hairstylist Frida Aradottir designed Aguilera’s makeup and
hair.
With the designs in place, Williams and a team of fifteen to eighteen makeup
artists inhabited four trailers and a tent lined with makeup stations to give the dancers
and background players their unique Burlesque look. “We have one trailer that is just
for body makeup,” Williams says. “We have airbrushes going twenty-four seven,
airbrushing all the girls because they’re so bruised that they have black and blue marks
from all of their dance numbers.”
With three naturally blonde leads to work with in Aguilera, Bell and Hough, Antin
and Samuel chose drastically different appearances so that they would each stand out
when sharing a frame. Hough became a redhead, and Bell transformed into an ebony
brunette, inspired in part by Samuel’s research into burlesque performers of yesteryear.
Williams also enhanced Bell’s tough exterior with a few temporary tattoos.
Williams, Samuel and their teams practically rendered Hough unrecognizable
outside of the set: “Stanley Tucci only knows me as a redhead,” Hough notes. “I saw
him at the Golden Globes and on three different nights and he had no clue who he was
talking to. I’m like, ‘Stanley. It’s Julianne.’ He’s like, “Oh, hi!’ I thought, ‘Really? Do I
look that different?’”
Wigs were fitted and strategically adhered to the actors’ heads in order to avoid
dance-induced hair malfunctions. Samuel explains: “Julianne’s dance numbers are so
physical and so vibrant. She’s whipping her hair around all over the place and going
upside down, especially in ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.’ The wig has to be put
on in such a way that it’s just not going to come off. I was running in after every take to
make sure everything’s still perfectly firm and attached.”
Samuel loved that Burlesque allowed for hairstyles that occasionally referenced
different historical and musical periods. (“Wagon Wheel Watusi,” for instance, is heavily
influenced by the 1960s, while ‘A Guy What Takes His Time’ gives a nod to the 1920s.)
“The wonderful thing about creating hairstyles from different periods of hair is nostalgia,”
Samuel says. “They see things that evoke feelings within them, and memories from
within their lifetime.”
Clothing the cast of Burlesque became an all-consuming job for costume
designer Michael Kaplan, whose credits include Blade Runner, Flashdance, Fight Club,
and J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek, and who found costuming a musical to have unique
challenges. In the movie’s wild finale, for instance, Kaplan envisioned dancers in
costumes fashioned from gold chains and Swarovski crystals. Kaplan relied on trial and
error and ingenuity to find a way to construct costumes that moved and shook and yet
held together.
“The finale had to top everything else,” Kaplan says. “Once I got that idea in my
head and decided not to use fabrics, I couldn’t find anything to top it. It started looking
more and more beautiful as we made samples. Then we realized how many hundreds
of hours were going to go into each costume.” In all, some 250,000 Swarovski crystals
in fifteen different colors went into the intricately linked costumes Kaplan designed.
To conjure the suggestion of more skin than was actually shown, Kaplan outfitted
each dancer with a perfectly fitted understructure that was dyed to match their exact
skin tone. The gold chains were then carefully affixed to the understructure. “It gives
the illusion of nudity,” Kaplan explains. “It let us keep our rating and provided
something to anchor the chain.”
Unfortunately for the costume department, gold didn’t have enough give to work
with the dancers’ muscles. Rubber washers -- found in a hardware store -- were
painted gold and added to the chains to allow for a little more freedom.
The finale is just one of Kaplan’s many artistic successes. For “E.X.P.R.E.S.S.,”
Kaplan designed a fantasy carnival-inspired getup for Aguilera, using outlines of his own
hands to add a personal stamp to the costume. For “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best
Friend,” Kaplan found inspiration in the bones of women’s lingerie. He left little to the
imagination, again giving the appearance of nudity in the case of Kristen Bell’s top.
Kaplan’s attention to detail extended to the costumes he created for the men,
too: “From the very beginning, I loved the idea of them wearing bowler hats and having
kind of a little nostalgic period, European feel. It hearkens back to that kind of cabaret:
the vests, the suspenders, the morning-stripe pants. We added a bit of machismo by
putting them into lace-up boots, wallet chains, and watch chains, which were great for
movement when they were dancing.”
For Alan Cumming’s doorman Alexis, Kaplan made his look an extension of the
bartenders’ garb and the club itself. “But just a little more so, a little more flamboyant, a
little more colorful,” Kaplan adds.
“We were looking at making it more contemporary and it didn’t quite work,”
Cumming adds. “Maybe I suit a more period kind of thing. Burlesque as a style of
performance is not contemporary. That’s what I like about it. It’s rooted in a time in the
past. I think it makes sense that the people who work there completely contemporary.”
Kaplan loved working with the fashionable, daring Aguilera, who greeted his
ideas with enthusiasm. “She has really good taste and she is not afraid to take a
chance. She doesn’t like to do things that are safe. That, from the beginning, was very
exciting to me. I couldn’t really scare her with ideas. She was game for anything, so
she’s a great person to collaborate with.”
Kaplan also found a willing subject in Kristen Bell, who dons one of the film’s
racier outfits, a seemingly sheer black lace bodysuit, for “Dr. Long John.” “I knew that I
wanted Kristen Bell to be totally sexy, exposed and looking like the burlesque queen
that she plays. I did some sketches and I thought she’d say, ‘I couldn’t possibly wear
that! Put some clothes on me.’ But she said, ‘Fine.’ I was shocked. It was really
difficult to find a fabric that would take the structure of the application that we put on it
because it was very fine, to make her look totally naked.”
A crowning achievement for the hair, makeup and wardrobe departments was
the look they devised for “I Am A Good Girl.” “I went to Western Costume Company
and found costumes that were all torn apart,” Kaplan remembers. “There was
something that really attracted me to them, the history or the colors or the silhouettes. I
talked to the people at Western Costume and told them that I wanted to take these
broken-down costumes and revamp them. I took them apart and then put them all back
together again as different costumes. We had all this beautiful, old lace and fishnet and
feathers.”
“Their movements were almost like broken puppets or broken rag dolls. That’s
how it was choreographed, and that’s what I was designing for,” Kaplan adds.
Kaplan made a major distinction between Aguilera and her fellow dancers for that
particular number, however. “Christina had a brand new hairdo,” he says. “It’s the first
time we see her in that much makeup. I wanted her to be very soft and pretty in pink.
Her skirt is all marabou and-and ostrich feathers, and she has a bustle. I knew she was
going to be walking up staircase, so we did this bustle that would kind of move when
she walked. It was adorable on her. She looked like a little bird with a feathered,
feathered tail,” Kaplan says.
Cindy Williams took Kaplan’s lead and added a doll-like look to the dancers’
faces. Williams’s comments: “We tried to make their faces kind of like China dolls, with
bright pink all around the eyes and cheeks and big full lips. The wardrobe and the hair
and everything came together beautifully. The whole number was probably one of my
favorites in the movie.” She finished out the look with long, exaggerated eyelashes.
Samuel added the proverbial cherry on top: “They all wore wigs which were
styled in a kind of very doll-like way with just loopy, frizzy hair. It came off very well.”
To create the dynamic, boldly dramatic lighting that enlivens the dance numbers,
the production turned to Tony Award-winning theatrical lighting designers Peggy
Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher. Burlesque provided somewhat of a renaissance for
Eisenhauer: “I actually did work on a burlesque show when I was sixteen,” she says. “It
was one of the last touring burlesque-style productions.”
Eisenhauer realized it would not be the burlesque of her youth, however. As with
the other members of the crew of Burlesque, Eisenhauer had one foot in the past and
one in the present. “Burlesque has a much more contemporary feel,” she notes.
Eisenhauer collaborated with choreographers Joey Pizzi and Denise Faye to
work out the logistics of how the lighting would move with the dancers. “I’ve known
Joey and Denise for a long time and we’ve worked together both in film and in the
theatre, which is wonderful. We have a real communication,” Eisenhauer comments. “I
would typically go to rehearsal and sit with them. Sometimes they have ideas or
suggestions, and sometimes they just want me to look at their choreography. I’ll use a
dance rehearsal videotape as a tool to work on my rehearsals, with just lighting and
maybe some stand-ins. Then we move on to dancer stand-ins, people who really know
the number.”
“The lighting could be thought of as a character on this film and I think that’s part
of the fun of it,” Eisenhauer says. “We’re trying to communicate a live experience on
film, for what a concertgoer or a club patron might see. It’s our goal to make that
believable.”
Showtime!
Though the Burlesque Lounge provided new creative relationships, many
members of the cast and crew had collaborated previously. The Burlesque Lounge
reintroduced Peter Gallagher with his “Guys And Dolls” co-star (and Burlesque
choreographer) Denise Faye. Gallagher and Cher enjoyed a brief cinematic encounter
when she had a cameo role as Larry Levy’s date for an event in Robert Altman’s The
Player. Costume designer Michael Kaplan had his first job as an assistant on “The
Sonny and Cher Show.” Theatrical lighting designers Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules
Fisher previously collaborated with choreographers Denise Faye and Joey Pizzi on Rob
Marshall’s Chicago, and with Alan Cumming for his Tony Award-winning turn in
“Cabaret.” Christina Aguilera took dancer Paul Kirkland on the road with her for two of
her tours.
The first few weeks of production were divided between filming big musical
numbers (“E.X.P.R.E.S.S.,” “A Guy What Takes His Time,” and “I Am A Good Girl”) and
quiet, often intimate scenes between Gigandet and Aguilera. Gigandet praises his costar for her commitment. “She came to play. She really did,” Gigandet enthuses. “She
jumped into the deep end of the pool as quickly as possible. It was a crash course.
She was open-minded and willing, throughout the whole movie. It was kind of an
exciting journey to see how she was on the first day to where she is now. It was special
to be a part of this because you could see her grow.”
Furthermore, Gigandet notes that director Steven Antin devoted as much of his
attention to the film’s smaller moments as he did to the breathtaking musical numbers:
“He was so focused on simply the story, the acting, and the relationship that these two
were going through. I feel like that’s rare, especially on such a big movie. When it
came to those details, he stepped up and didn’t let all the distractions get in the way,
which is great.”
Director of photography Bojan Bazelli helped Antin capture Burlesque’s wildest,
most romantic and most thrilling moments. Bazelli comments: “Color is a big player in
this movie. It has vibrancy. Burlesque, in my mind, is red. We played where we added
lots of red tones in the entire musical. Any time there is a number, there is a significant
amount of very rich, saturated red.”
Bazelli aimed to set a distinction between Ali’s Hollywood and her world inside
the club. “Any time we enter the club, the club is vibrant, its colors are vibrant,” Bazelli
says. “The contrast is stronger. Whereas when we are in the streets -- and not that
Hollywood is not a vibrant place -- but we tried to keep it a little less colorful. The
tonality is monochromatic. It’s representing two worlds: One would be Cher’s world,
one would be the world of Christina, a new arrival in town.”
Bazelli worked seamlessly with Eisenhauer and Fisher to create an active, bold
vision for the lounge’s musical sequences. Peter Gallagher observes: “Bojan creates a
world that appears real, that we’re living in and acting in and telling the story in, and
Peggy illuminates this heightened reality and helps tell the story of these musical
numbers. There’s an extraordinary amount of cooperation and coordination in their two
separate worlds.”
Occasionally, the production would leave the stage to venture out into practical
locations. There were some obvious logistical difficulties in bringing two music icons
into the middle of Hollywood. Nevertheless, Antin had a dream to shoot a scene on
Hollywood Boulevard. He comments: “I grew up here. The sun sets almost right in the
center of Hollywood Boulevard and creates this incredible light that blasts down
Hollywood Boulevard, and it reflects off those terrazzo, slick, Walk of Fame sidewalks.
I’d seen it so many times and I always wanted to shoot it, and I got to shoot it in this
movie. I had no idea that it was going to be as crazy as it was. There were mobs of
people. I felt like we were in Times Square. I’ve never seen it that crowded.”
Another outdoor scene, a confrontation between Nikki and Tess, required Bell to
dive right into one of her most dramatic scenes mere moments after meeting Cher.
“Shooting the parking lot scene was kind of bizarre because I hadn’t known Cher at that
point,” Bell recalls. “We both knew this was a pivotal point in our relationship, so it had
to be good and it had to be real. We sat down and talked first and we said, ‘Obviously
we’re best friends. We’ve had a million movie nights where I’ve burnt the popcorn and
you’ve made gin and tonics and we’ve painted each other’s nails and you’re my idol and
I’m your protégé and this has been going on for years and this is how it works and
tonight’s the night of our break-up.’”
Despite the level of fame Cher and Aguilera brought to the production, Bell found
her work environment to be exceptionally supportive. “They’re both so down-to-earth,
which I hate to say is surprising, but it was,” Bell recalls. “You don’t know what kind of
personality someone’s going to have when they’re that iconic, but they’re both lovely
and so much fun to work with and so blunt and easy to be around. It’s become like a
really nice family, kind of like these girls actually have at this burlesque club.”
Christina Aguilera did more than just act, sing and dance in Burlesque; she also
co-wrote three of the songs that appear in the film: “E.X.P.R.E.S.S.,” “Bound to You,”
and “Show Me How You Burlesque.” Aguilera offered to write the music and Antin
graciously accepted. With a caveat, though. “Christina said, ‘Does that mean if I write
one and you don’t like it, it’s not in the movie?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’” Antin jokes. “That’s
basically it. She’s not afraid of a challenge, a girl like Christina Aguilera. She went out
and wrote song after song after song, and it was spectacular. We talked a lot about
what those songs were. I wrote treatments for the songs, about what story those songs
tell in the movie and what the subject matter is, and what the tone of the songs might
be.” Antin did write one of the key songs that Christina performs in the film – “But I’m a
Good Girl.”
The expertly choreographed dance numbers took shape months before
production. Antin, whom worked very closely with choreographers Joey Pizzi and
Denise Faye, describes the process: “Denise Faye was here for months with me,
conceptualizing and looking at movies and music videos that we loved, and referencing
everything you could possibly imagine from the last several hundred years of dance,
and burlesque and vaudeville, and opera. We had a whole wall that we had all the
numbers up on with different ideas. We would just pare them down and pare them
down. She and Joey Pizzi brought their choreography team here: Tara Hughes, Aisha
Francis, Melanie Lewis and Jaquel Knight. The six of them would get into a room after
we would conceptualize something, and they’d bring me in and say, ‘Here’s the rough
bones of it.’”
Each member of the team added his or her own bit of expertise to the film’s
choreography. Jaquel Knight explains: “Denise, Joey and Tara worked together
previously. They had this chemistry already among themselves with such a great talent
and technique behind it. Aisha and Melanie and I brought a kind of commercial side to
the whole project. My style personally is very funky, very street, very underground. It’s
inspired by whatever you see at the moment.”
Aisha Francis, a member of the choreography team and featured dancer,
describes her favorite number: “’Something’s Got a Hold on Me,’ but I wasn’t in it, thank
God!” Francis laughs. “They were about to die! That was like running a ten-day
marathon at full speed. I felt so awful for the girls. It was like thirty seconds between
each take, but they look so amazing. They’re so professional and they’re just hot.”
Antin also relied on Pizzi and Faye to provide some of the film’s comedic
touches. “I kept saying, ‘You know, this number has to be funny,’” Antin says of Kristen
Bell’s euphemism-filled dentist visit romp, called “Dr. Long John.” “I kept pushing them
to mine the comedy out of the song. Denise and Joey are really funny and they
understand musical comedy and musical theater. They found the fun and the comedy
and sexiness in this number.”
The dancers of Burlesque might as well have been stunt performers, given their
numerous battle scars. “I come down on this metal beaded curtain and I’m all wrapped
up,” Hough remembers of shooting “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.” “I’ve got
nothing holding me up. The bad thing about that, though, is that it looked like I had rug
burn because I had all these marks all over my body from the metal beads. It hurt so
much. But it’s a fabulous number and pain feels good when you know it’s going to pay
off.”
Dancer Sean van der Wilt felt the pain from another source—the gold chain
dresses in the finale. “When the girls slide down my arms, I cut myself on the chains on
their dresses,” says van der Wilt. “It’s been brutal, but the movie is going to be all worth
it.”
Dancer Paul Kirkland got to see a very different side to Christina Aguilera, who
he worked with on the “Stripped” and “Back To Basics” tours. “Usually, she’s worried
about her vocals because it’s her show and it’s all about her voice,” offers Kirkland. “It’s
really nice to see her perform as a dancer and kind of get a taste of what we do. I’ve
always experienced the music side of things for her, so now I’m seeing her grow and
become a movie star and become the amazing person that she is.”
“The main girls were here every day and we pushed them very hard and some
were moving into areas that they weren’t used to,” choreographer and dancer Tara
Hughes says. “It was rigorous and those girls put in their time. You fight hard and know
that in seven months you’ll rest. We had two months of pre-production and two months
of rehearsals with the dancers and actors, then three months of shooting.”
Bell held her own with Aguilera and Hough and the team of seasoned dancers.
“They danced with Michael Jackson and they dance with Beyoncé. These girls are the
best of the best. You would think that it might be a giant catfight with this many women,
but it’s not. It’s such a supportive environment. I’m very much trying to keep up with
them in the dance department. I can pull one aside and say, ‘Can you show me that
step again?’ They’re ready and willing to make it the best it can be,” Bell says.
Alan Cumming’s first day on set was Georgia’s wedding scene, filmed in
downtown Los Angeles. “I had him dancing with Julianne at one point, and they had
just met ten minutes before,” Antin remembers. “He said to Julianne, ‘Darling, can you
manage a twirl?’ And she sort of looked at him, and because she’s so sweet, she said,
‘Yeah. I think I can pull it off.’”
Above all else, the cast embraced the enthusiasm of their director. “Steven Antin
is phenomenal,” Hough says. “He’s such a ball of energy and you always feel so
beautiful when you’re around him because he makes you feel that way. He
understands women and obviously the musical aspect of things, so we’re definitely
putting our trust in him and it’s well-deserved.”
Aguilera says she and Antin bonded from day one on the movie. “There’s
something about him that I felt I’d known my whole life,” says Aguilera. “He was
involved with every aspect, and he cared about it like it was his baby. It makes you not
want to disappoint him even more. He was great.”
All in all, Aguilera says audiences for Burlesque can expect a fun song-anddance ride from beginning to end. She adds: “It was a really beautiful thing to be a part
of, and I think it shows onscreen. Audiences will see how much heart we put into this
picture.”
THE CAST
CHER (Tess), through her incomparable voice, her trademark wit, and her
charismatic presence, has established herself as a tireless, compelling performer of
inestimable talent and unstoppable drive. Her contributions in music, television, stage
and film have garnered countless accolades and awards and the admiration of
generations of fans.
Cher’s iconic performance as Loretta Castorini in Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck
won her both an Academy Award® and Golden Globe Award. Her work in Peter
Bogdanovich’s Mask won her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. For
Mike Nichols’ Silkwood, co-starring Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell, Cher was nominated
for both a Golden Globe and Academy Award®. Her additional film credits include a
diverse body of roles in Mermaids, The Witches of Eastwick, Suspect, Faithful, Stuck on
You and Tea with Mussolini.
As a musician, Cher’s career began with “I Got You Babe,” an overnight
sensation for the singer and husband and collaborator Sonny Bono. Further hit singles
followed, including hits “The Beat Goes On” and “Baby Don’t Go.”
Their music and memorable television appearances segued into a hit series of
Sonny and Cher’s own. With Bono, Cher is counted among the pioneers of variety
television. Melding music and humor, Sonny and Cher created a unique, winningly
sarcastic ambience that was fresh and familiar to television viewers. Cher won a
Golden Globe in 1971 for “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.” The program was
nominated for four Emmy® Awards and introduced Cher’s comedic and musical talents
to audiences across America.
Cher’s solo music career began with number one hits “Gypsies, Tramps &
Thieves” and “Half-Breed,” and extended through decades to include “Dark Lady,”
“Train Of Thought,” “I Found Someone,” “After All” (with Peter Cetera), “If I Could Turn
Back Time,” “Save Up All Your Tears,” “Love And Understanding,” “Believe,” and
“Strong Enough.”
With a beloved catalog, Cher embarked on a global “Farewell Tour” tour that
lasted nearly three years and three hundred and twenty-five dates. The televised “Cher:
The Farewell Tour” also won Cher her first Emmy® for Outstanding Variety, Comedy or
Music Special.
Never content to remain idle, “Farewell” led to a breathtaking stage show at
Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, which has enchanted over two hundred thousand of her
fans (and counting).
Additionally, Cher directed and starred in a segment for HBO’s criticallyacclaimed, award winning telefilm “If These Walls Could Talk.” Her performance in the
omnibus garnered Cher a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting
Role.
Leaving no artistic stone unturned, Cher made her Broadway debut with “Come
Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” in 1983. She later reprised the
role in Robert Altman’s film adaptation, starring alongside Sandy Dennis and Karen
Black.
CHRISTINA AGUILERA (Ali) Singer, songwriter, performer, producer, director
and actress —is there anything Christina Aguilera hasn’t done? One of the most
accomplished performers of the last decade, she has sold more than 30 million albums
worldwide, achieved four #1 singles on the Billboard hot 100 chart, and has won five
Grammy Awards, as well as three top five albums in the United States. She has
collaborated with other legendary artists including Herbie Hancock, Andrea Bocelli,
Tony Bennett, Elton John and The Rolling Stones. Aguilera was also the only artist
under 30 to make Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 100 greatest singers of all time.
2010 continues to add accomplishments to this multi-hyphenated artist. In
November she will appear in her first feature film Burlesque, opposite Cher and Stanley
Tucci. Christina plays Ali, a small-town girl with a big voice who escapes hardship and
an uncertain future to follow her dreams to LA. Earlier this year Christina launched her
new album, Bionic, which featured collaborations from artists such as Sia, Le Tigre and
Ladytron as well as producers Tricky Stewart and Hill/Switch. Christina describes the
album as a unique mix of many genres and styles of music, “I was able to explore and
create a fresh, sexy feel using both electronic and organic elements with subject matter
ranging from playful to introspective. I am so excited for my fans to hear the new
sound. It is something I don’t think anyone will expect.”
The New York native’s trajectory from performing in local talent shows in
Pennsylvania, where she grew up, to getting her big break on “Star Search” in 1992 to
landing a part on the Disney Channel’s “The New Mickey Mouse Club”, is well known. It
was her song, “Reflection,” for Disney’s “Mulan,” that led to a record deal with RCA and
the release of her self-titled debut album in the summer of 1999. The album quickly hit
#1 on the strength of its first dance/pop single, “Genie In A Bottle” (which dominated the
charts for five weeks and broke records worldwide) and other chart toppers including
“What A Girl Wants” and “Come on Over”. It was a feat she would repeat the following
year with “Mi Reflejo,” the smash Spanish-language version of her debut, followed by
her hit holiday release, “My Kind of Christmas.”
In 2001 Aguilera joined forces with Pink, Mya and Lil’ Kim on the smash “Lady
Marmalade” single and video. That eye-popping slice of eye and ear candy kept her
front and center in the international spotlight even as she began to lay the groundwork
for her second album, Stripped. Released in October 2002, it sealed her status as an
international superstar while transforming her image from bubble-gum-pop princess to
steamy sex kitten. Along with the superheated funk of the album’s provocative debut
single, “Dirrty,” came such standout tracks as “Beautiful,” “Can’t Hold Us Down” and
“Voice Within”.
After sweeping the top of the charts with her third album, “Back to Basics,” which
debuted at #1 in August ’06 and sold over 3.7 million worldwide, the unstoppable
Aguilera announced a global tour. With the fashion legend Roberto Cavalli as the
exclusive costume designer, choreographer and director Jamie King (Madonna, Janet
Jackson and Prince) on board, and a unique stage design that allowed fans
unprecedented access to the pop star, the shows were a feast for all senses and
earned her rave reviews.
Earning her first of four Grammy Awards in 2000 for Best New Artist, her
subsequent trophies came in 2001 for “Lady Marmalade” (Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals), in 2003 for “Beautiful” (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance) and in 2007 for
“Ain’t No Other Man (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance), winning a Grammy for
each of her albums. Among countless other honors, she is also the recipient of a 2001
Latin Grammy Award for Mi Reflejo (Best Female Pop Vocal Album), a 2000 Billboard
Music Award for Female Artist of the Year, and two 2004 Rolling Stone Music Awards
(Best Female Performer, Readers’ Pick; and Best Tour, Readers’ Pick, “Justified and
Stripped”). Voted Sexiest Teen Idol in a VH1 poll, Aguilera’s beauty and charisma have
also led Teen People to list her among its “25 Hottest Stars Under 25” and Maxim to
crown her Best International Female Singer (2000), one of the Sexiest Women of the
Year (2003) and #1 on their “Hot 100” List (2003). Aguilera has also been honored with
two NRJ Awards (Best International Female, Best International Album) as well as a
2007 MTV Europe Award (Best Female Artist).
In 2007, Aguilera lent her hand to an entirely new production—an eponymous
perfume, “Christina Aguilera,” which she launched through P&G Prestige. Perfect for the
sexy, seductive, and classic woman, “Christina Aguilera” empowers every woman by
playing up her femininity. The fragrance continues to be an internationally best seller
and has paved the way for two additional scents - “Inspire” and “By Night.” In October
2010, Christina will add a fourth fragrance to her line, Royal Desire.
In January 2008, Aguilera gave birth to her first child, son Max Liron Bratman.
Not one to slow down following the birth, in February the new mom served as the muse
behind London jeweler Stephen Webster’s new sterling silver collection. Christina
inspired and was the face of the unconventional collection posing as a Hitchcock
heroine in the ad campaign. The new ad campaign, shot by famed W Magazine
photographer Craig McDean, was revealed in Spring of 2009. The inspiration for the
campaign stems from Webster’s Glam Rock style and Aguilera’s sexy new
contemporary look.
Today, while devoting the lion’s share of her time to recording and touring, the
29-year-old is active in a range of philanthropy. In 2009 Christina joined forces with
Yum! Brands in their World Hunger Relief effort acting as global spokesperson. In less
than one year she has created widespread awareness and deeper engagement to
benefit the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and other hunger relief
agencies and helped to raise a record breaking 22.5 million in donations. In 2010 she
was named an Ambassador to the United Nations for her hard work and outreach. It is
an honor only given to a select few. In addition, Christina and her son Max appeared in
a PSA for “Rock the Vote” encouraging young people to take a stand and vote for what
they believe in. The ad, which featured Christina singing “America the Beautiful” to Max
who is wrapped in an American flag, was featured in magazines, television spots and
billboards in Times Square. A major contributor to the fight against AIDS, Aguilera has
participated in the “What’s Going On?” cover project for AIDS Project Los Angeles’
Artists Against AIDS. In 2004 she became the new face for MAC cosmetic company
and spokesperson for the MAC AIDS Fund. In addition, Christina became involved in
awareness campaigns with Youth AIDS and ALDO. She also sponsors and is actively
involved in the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh for battered women
and children.
For more information, please visit www.christinaaguilera.com.
ERIC DANE (Marcus) stars as Dr. Mark Sloan on the Emmy®-nominated,
Golden Globe and SAG Award-winning hit television series “Grey’s Anatomy,” currently
in its sixth season on ABC.
Dane continues to expand upon an impressive and diverse roster of film roles,
most recently as a lovelorn football player in Garry Marshall’s romantic comedy
Valentine’s Day. In 2008, he co-starred with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson in
David Frankel’s Marley & Me, based on John Grogan’s beloved memoir. Dane made
his foray into the world of comic book adaptations as Jamie Madrox, aka Multiple Man,
in the blockbuster X-Men: The Last Stand. His additional film credits include Feast,
Open Water: Adrift, Sol Goode and The Basket.
Raised in San Francisco, Dane migrated to Los Angeles and landed his break in
1993 with a guest spot on “The Wonder Years.” Numerous guest and recurring roles
followed, including memorable stints on “Charmed,” “Las Vegas” and “Gideon’s
Crossing.” Additionally, Dane has twice appeared as Dr. Sloan on “Private Practice,”
ABC’s popular spinoff to “Grey’s Anatomy.” Dane’s television film credits include
“Serving in Silence,” “Painkiller Jane,” “Helter Skelter” and “Wedding Wars.”
CAM GIGANDET (Jack) A talented up and comer, Cam Gigandet is earning
recognition and accolades for his strong performances. He recently received the “One
to Watch” award from Movieline’s Young Hollywood Awards, an MTV Movie Award for
“Best Fight Scene” for his performance in Summit Entertainment action film Never Back
Down, and was named as one of Hollywood Reporter’s “Next Generation Talent” in their
annual 35 under 35 issue.
Cam recently wrapped production on several films including The Roommate
opposite Leighton Meester, the comedy Easy A with Amanda Bynes, Malcolm McDowell
and Stanley Tucci, The Experiment opposite Forest Whitaker and Adrien Brody and
most recently Sony Pictures’ film Priest opposite Paul Bettany.
Cam was most recently seen starring alongside Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster in
the sci-fi thriller Pandorum and before that played opposite Gary Oldman and Odette
Yustman in Rogue Pictures’ horror story The Unborn. In November 2008, he starred as
a villainous vampire in Summit Entertainment’s hugely successful Twilight, directed by
Catherine Hardwick and based on the best-selling series of books by Stephenie Meyer.
His other film credits include Dimension Film’s golf comedy Who’s Your Caddy
and the independent thriller Mistaken.
Cam made a name for himself as bad boy ‘Volchok’ on Fox’s huge teen drama
“The O.C.” He was also a recurring character on the WB’s “Jack and Bobby”.
Originally from Auburn, Washington, Cam enjoys sports in his spare time and
holds a brown belt in karate. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
JULIANNE HOUGH (Georgia) A true triple-threat, singer/actress/dancer
Julianne Hough was already known to millions of fans as the two-time professional
dance champion on ABC-TV’s top-rated “Dancing With the Stars” before expanding into
the worlds of music and film.
Although she has been winning world dance titles since her early teens,
Julianne’s ultimate goal has always been a career in country music. Her self-titled
debut album, released by Universal Music Group Nashville in 2008, hit the Billboard
Country charts at #1 and entered the Billboard 200 at #3, marking the highest debut for
a country artist since 2006. Her first two singles from the album, “That Song in My
Head” and “My Hallelujah Song,” soared up the country charts and she earned her first
two 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards for Top New Female Vocalist and Top
New Artist. Hitting the road for the first time as a recording artist, Julianne opened for
superstar Brad Paisley and later toured with George Strait, playing over 100 shows in
2009. Her second album, The Julianne Hough Holiday Collection, became an instant
holiday classic for her legions of fans, distributed exclusively at Target. Her muchanticipated follow-up album will be released by Mercury Nashville in November 2010.
Her new single, “Is That So Wrong?,” is taking radio by storm and reflects the edgier,
more mature tone of the new CD. Julianne has written multiple tracks for the new
album, working with Dann Huff, one the hottest producers in country music today
(Martina McBride, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, among others). She is currently touring
the U.S.
Having become a household name virtually overnight on “Dancing With the
Stars,” then making a seamless transition to recording artist, Julianne is also well on her
way to making her mark in the world of motion pictures. She was cast in the starstudded ensemble of Screen Gems’ dramatic musical “Burlesque,” working alongside
Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci, Eric Dane, Kristen Bell and Cam Gigandet. In
“Burlesque,” written and directed by Steve Antin, Julianne plays Georgia. “Burlesque” is
set for release on November 24, 2010. Julianne made headlines by edging out a bevy
of established actresses to win the female lead role in Paramount’s remake of the
classic movie musical, “Footloose,” which will film this summer and fall and is slated for
an April 1, 2011 release.
A born entertainer, Julianne Hough (pronounced “Huff”) always loved singing,
dancing and acting.
At age 10, she was presented with an opportunity to study
performing arts in London, which established her fierce independence and was the
beginning of a period of intense training and education. She returned to Utah at age 15
and, after graduating high school, moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of a
career in entertainment.
Quickly earning a solid reputation for her talent, discipline and professionalism, it
took less than a month for Julianne to land a job as a dancer on the ABC game show,
“Show Me The Money,” and shortly thereafter joined the “Dancing With the Stars” tour
as a company dancer before joining the cast of the hit series in the show’s fourth
season, where she was paired with two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner Apolo Anton
Ohno. She toured with the troupe again, before returning to the hit show for seasons
five through eight, pairing with Indy race champion Helio Castroneves, comedian Adam
Carolla, actor Cody Linley and country singer Chuck Wicks.
Hough remains the
youngest dancer to have won the coveted “Dancing with the Stars” competition twice,
with partners Ohno and Castroneves, and she earned an Emmy® nomination in 2008
for Best Choreography for her work on the show. Her skills as a choreographer also led
to a collaboration with Gwen Stefani on the singer’s “Wind It Up” video.
In 2009, Julianne starred in her first fitness DVD, “Cardio Ballroom,” the first in a
series designed to motivate exercise novices and enthusiasts alike on the dance floor.
The second, “Just Dance!,” will be out in November.
She is also highly sought-after in the world of commercials and endorsements, as
an international spokesperson for Proactiv Solution and as the official spokesperson for
Venus Embrace, co-authoring their “Goddess Guide to Getting Closer” for the
company’s 2009 marketing campaign. She sang an updated version of the Wrigley’s
Juicy Fruit gum theme, “The Taste is Gonna Move Ya” and has numerous other
campaigns in the works.
While devoting most of her time to recording, touring and now filmmaking,
Julianne is also active in a range of philanthropic endeavors, charities and humanitarian
efforts including the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Clothes Off Our Back, St. Jude’s
Children’s Hospital and serves on the American Red Cross Cabinet.
In addition to an already stellar line-up of projects for 2010, Julianne also kicked
off the new year with an invitation to perform in We Are The World 25 For Haiti, an allstar update to the iconic 1985 philanthropic anthem to benefit the Haitian earthquake
relief efforts and the rebuilding of Haiti. Produced once again by Quincy Jones and
Lionel Richie and recorded in the same studio as the original 25 years earlier, the new
video (directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis) debuted on
February 12, 2010, during the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics
featuring such music legends as Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Celine Dion and
Gladys Knight and contemporary superstars including Will.I.Am, Jennifer Hudson, Pink,
Fergie and Kanye West, amongst countless other artists from virtually every musical
genre.
For more information, please visit www.juliannehough.com.
ALAN CUMMING (Alexis) Actor Alan Cumming has recently completed filming
the mini-series The Runaway and was just nominated for an Emmy® for his guest
starring appearance on the first season of the hit CBS drama of “The Good Wife”
playing Eli Gold. He will join the cast as a series regular for the second season.
Last year Cumming created a cabaret show I Bought A Blue Car Today ('A
modern day Noel Coward' - The New York Times) for the Lincoln Center in NYC and
went on to perform it at the Sydney Opera House, London’s West End and The Geffen
Playhouse in Los Angeles. This summer he blew away audiences at Feinstein’s in NYC,
Broad Stages in Santa Monica and at The Castro Theater in San Francisco. The one
man show will be featured in Fire Island’s famed Pines on July 30 and then at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe from August 13th-15th. The album I Bought A Blue Car
Today recently won a Bistro award and is available in stores and on iTunes.
Later this year he will appear alongside Cher and Christina Aguilera in the
movie Burlesque, and with Helen Mirren, Chris Cooper, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina
and Djimon Hounsou in Julie Taymor’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
In 2011 he will be heard in three animated films: Sir Billi the Vet opposite Sean
Connery, Jackboots on Whitehall (in which he plays Hitler and Braveheart) and as
Gutsy Smurf in The Smurfs.
He recently launched an obsession-based website www.itsasickness.com.
Alan Cumming is beyond eclectic. He was an award-winning Hamlet, and he had
his own talk show. He shot a video portrait with Robert Wilson, and recorded a duet with
Liza Minnelli. He made films back to back with Stanley Kubrick and the Spice Girls. He
released an award-winning album, wrote a Sunday Times best-selling novel, and had
an award-winning signature fragrance. He has played Dionysus, the Devil, the Pope
and was shot by Herb Ritts for Vanity Fair as Pan. He was a teleporting Superhero, a
Lee Jeans model and hosted Saturday Night Live. He is an Independent Spirit awardwinning producer and National Board of Review award winning director. He has sung at
Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the London Palladium and the Sydney Opera
House. He was named Icon of Scotland and won the Great Scot award. He designed
wallpaper. He was the voice of Black Beauty. He isn’t nearly done yet.
Alan Cumming (www.alancumming.com), trained at the Royal Scottish Academy
of Music and Drama. After leaving the Academy he quickly found himself celebrated in
his homeland for both his television work (including the Scottish soap Take The High
Road) and his stand-up comedy (the legendary Victor and Barry, which he wrote and
performed with drama school pal Forbes Masson.) But it was the theatre that gave him
his biggest break when he appeared in Manfred Karge’s Conquest of the South Pole at
the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. The play transferred to the Royal Court in London’s
West End and Alan was nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer Olivier Award.
He went on to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal
National Theatre where he won an Olivier award for his performance in Dario
Fo’s Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. For the National Theatre Studio he directed
Michel Tremblay’s Bonjour La, Bonjour and played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. He was
nominated for further Olivier Awards for La Bete and Cabaret, and his
sensational Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse in London won him a TMA Best Actor
award and a Shakespeare Globe nomination. The Daily Mail described his performance
as ‘an actor knocking on the door of greatness’.
He made his feature film debut opposite Bruno Ganz and Sandrine Bonnaire in
Ian Sellar’s Prague, which premiered at Cannes in 1992 and for which he won the Best
Actor award at the Atlantic Film festival and a Scottish BAFTA award nomination. His
introduction to American audiences came with Circle of Friends, followed shortly
by Goldeneye and Emma. His first movie shot in Hollywood was Romy and Michele’s
High School Reunion (for which he received an MTV Movie Award nomination), and
since the he has alternated between blockbusters such as X2:X Men United, the Spy
Kids Trilogy, and smaller independent films like Urbania, Titus (opposite Anthony
Hopkins and Jessica Lange) and Sweet Land (for which he received an Independent
Spirit award as producer). With Jennifer Jason Leigh he wrote, produced, directed and
acted in The Anniversary Party, which won them a National Board of Review award and
two Independent Spirit nominations. Most recently he was seen in the independent
films Dare and Boogie Woogie.
In 1998, Cabaret opened on Broadway and Alan was instantly embraced by New
York City, and heralded for his stunning performance as the EmCee. He won The Tony,
Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, Theatre World, New York Press, FANY and New
York Public Advocate’s awards for his work, but for him the biggest prize was finding
his new home.
He has continued to work on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera opposite
Cyndi Lauper, Design For Living and off -Broadway in Jean Genet’s Elle (which he also
adapted) and The Seagull, opposite Dianne Wiest. He returned to the British stage in
2006 in Martin Sherman’s Bent, and most recently appeared in the National Theatre of
Scotland’s production of Euripides’ The Bacchae, which opened the Edinburgh
International Festival and toured Scotland, transferred to London and then to the Lincoln
Center Festival in NYC. Alan won the Herald Arcangel award for his performance as
Dionysus.
On American television he appeared in Sex and the City, Frasier, Third Rock
From The Sun, The L Word, the TV movies Annie, The Goodbye Girl and Reefer
Madness and the Sci-Fi Channel’s record-breaking Tin Man. He is also the host of
PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery. In Britain he wrote and starred in the cult sitcom The High
Life as well as many other films for the BBC including Bernard and the Genie for which
he won a British Comedy award.
Alan’s activism and passion for various civil rights and sex education causes has
earned him many humanitarian awards including two Human Rights Campaign awards,
GLAAD’s Vito Russo media award, the Trevor Project Hero Award, and other honors
from the Anti-Violence Project, LAMBDA Legal, Pflag to name but a few. His homeland
has honoured him with an honorary doctorate from the University of Abertay, Dundee,
the Great Scot award and in 2005 he was named Icon of Scotland. He is an
ambassador for the Edinburgh Festivals, the United Nations Millennium Goals
Campaign and President of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama's
American Foundation. He was recently made an O.B.E (Officer of the British Empire) in
the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours' List.
PETER GALLAGHER (Vince), a veteran actor of film, television and the stage,
has won numerous awards for his theatrical performances including a Tony nomination
for his highly acclaimed performance in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” opposite the
late Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey. He is the recipient of the Theatre World Award for
the Harold Prince Production of “A Doll’s Life” and the Clarence Derwent Award for Tom
Stoppard’s “The Real Thing” directed by Mike Nichols. His role in Jerry Zak’s Tony
winning revival of the Broadway musical “Guys and Dolls” as the charismatic Sky
Masterson drew critical praise.
In 2002, he also starred in “The Exonerated,” a play focusing on the lives of six
people convicted for murders they did not commit, later exonerated and freed after
serving time in prison. The premise of the play speaks to the heart of the true life story
of Kenneth Waters in Conviction, which attracted Gallagher in part to the film role as
Barry Scheck, co-founder of The Innocent Project that reviews DNA evidence in old
cases and uses it to free those wrongly convicted. The play, directed by Bob Balaban,
won the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play and the
2003 Lucille Lortel Award and Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience.
Gallagher began his career in theatre and segued to film in 1980 with his debut
feature “The Idolmaker” directed by Taylor Hackford. He is remembered for his
outstanding performance as “The King of Real Estate” in the Oscar® winner “American
Beauty.”
He recently appeared in Fox Searchlight’s “Adam,” which premiered at the 2009
Sundance Film Festival, and can be seen in the upcoming films ‘Someday This Pain
Will Be Useful’ and ‘Burlesque.’
Gallagher has worked in several films directed by Robert Altman and Steven
Soderbergh. He earned international critical acclaim in Soderbergh’s 1989 film “sex, lies
and videotape.” Six years later Soderbergh wrote the lead role in “The Underneath” for
Gallagher. He starred in Altman’s “The Player,” “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle” and
“Short Cuts,” which won a Special Award for the extensive all-star cast including
Gallagher.
His other film credits include: “Dreamchild,” “Bob Roberts,” “Watch It,” “The
Hudsucker Proxy,” the comedy hit “While You Were Sleeping” with Sandra Bullock, “To
Gillian on Her 37th Birthday,” “Cafe Society,” “The Man Who Knew Too Little,” the box
office hit “Mr. Deeds,” co-starring Adam Sandler and Nicholas Hytner’s “Center Stage.”
In television, Gallagher currently stars in USA Network’s new show ‘Covert
Affairs’ as CIA Director Arthur Campbell, and this year, he appears as Father Phil in the
new season of FX’s ‘Rescue Me.’ Last season, Gallagher starred in the Showtime hit
series “Californication” opposite David Duchovny, but he is best known for his starring
role as public defender Sandy Cohen in the Fox hit drama “The O.C.”
His other television credits include the Emmy® and Peabody Award winning
miniseries “The Murder of Mary Phagan,” “An Inconvenient Woman,” Robert Altman’s
“The Caine Mutiny Court Martial,” “Cupid and Cate,” “Brave New World,” PBS’ "Guys
and Doll's Off The Record," the English production of Clifford Odets’ “The Big Knife,”
"Private Contentment," “The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez” and HBO’s “Path to Paradise,” the
untold story of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Between film and television roles, Gallagher frequently returns to the stage. He
recently starred in the Broadway production of Clifford Odet’s play “The Country Girl,”
directed by Mike Nichols with co-stars Morgan Freeman and Frances McDormand. He
made his Broadway debut in a revival of “Hair,” followed by a starring role in the original
Broadway production of “Grease,” and “The Corn Is Green” with Cicely Tyson.
In November 2005, Epic Records released Gallagher’s album titled “7 Days in
Memphis.” The album is a compilation of soul hits from the Memphis Stax Era as well as
newer songs recorded in the Memphis Soul sound.
Gallagher was recently honored with an “Inspire Award” by AARP for being an
Alzheimer’s Activist. In addition to his work for The Alzheimer’s Association, Gallagher
supports The Actors Fund, Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids, The Alliance of Young
Artists and Writers.
Gallagher graduated from Tufts University.
KRISTEN BELL (Nikki) was recently seen on the big screen as the lead role in
the romantic comedy When in Rome for Disney Studios opposite Josh Duhamel, Danny
DeVito and Dax Shepard as well as the romantic comedy, Couples Retreat, opposite
Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman for Universal Pictures and she lent her voice in the
animated feature film Astro Boy, also recently in theatres. Next, Kristen will star in
another Disney feature, You Again, helmed by Andy Fickman opening on September
24, 2010. Bell plays a girl who tries to break up her brother’s impending marriage when
she finds out his bride-to-be is the very girl who made her life a living hell in high school.
Bell was recently seen as the title role in the highly successful Universal film
comedy feature, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, opposite Jason Segel, Jonah Hill and Paul
Rudd, produced by Judd Apatow.
She was also seen on NBC’s hit series, “Heroes,” as the mysterious ‘Elle
Bishop.’ An agent of “The Company,” she possesses the power to generate and
manipulate electricity.
For three seasons, Bell starred in the title role of the Joel Silver-produced CW
series “Veronica Mars,” in which she played a smart, fearless apprentice private
investigator dedicated to solving her wealthy seaside town’s toughest mysteries.
Her previous film roles include the kidnapped daughter of the President in the
David Mamet thriller, Spartan, opposite Val Kilmer for Warner Brothers.
Kristen starred in 2004’s camp musical “Reefer Madness” on Showtime, which
was based on the hit play, in which she also starred Off-Broadway. Previously, Kirsten
was best-known for her recurring role in the HBO series “Deadwood.” Her additional
television credits include lead roles in the critically-acclaimed made-for-television movie,
“Gracie’s Choice,” opposite Anne Heche and Diane Ladd as well as “The King and
Queen of Moonlight Bay” with Tim Matheson, Sean Young and Ed Asner. She has also
had guest-starring roles on such series as “American Dreams,” “The Shield” and
“Everwood.”
On stage, Kristen appeared in the Los Angeles Opera’s all-star production of the
Stephen Sondheim musical, “A Little Night Music,” just prior to beginning production on
“Veronica Mars.” Previously, she starred in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s “The
Crucible” with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, the Broadway production of “Tom
Sawyer,” and she played the title role in the World Premiere production of the musical
“Sneaux.”
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Bell attended New York University’s Tisch
School of the Arts. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
STANLEY TUCCI (Sean), has appeared in over 50 films and countless television
shows. In the past few years he has appeared in films such as The Devil Wears Prada,
The Terminal and Road to Perdition. He is no stranger to the theater; and has appeared
in over a dozen plays, on and off Broadway.
The year of 2008 was an extremely busy year. Stanley appeared in the soon to
be classic, Julie & Julia, opposite Meryl Streep and directed by Nora Ephron and The
Lovely Bones for which he earned his first Academy Award® nomination along with
Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG and Broadcast Film Critics nominations.
Tucci is currently filming Captain America: The First Avenger, which is slated for
a summer 2011 release. Due out in 2010 is the Musical, Burlesque, the story of a smalltown girl who ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run
by a former dancer. Tucci stars opposite Cher and Christina Aguilera. Also on the big
screen in 2010 is EASY A, about a clean-cut high school student who relies on the
school's rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing. Tucci re-teams with
Patricia Clarkson to give yet another memorable performance alongside an outstanding
cast of what promises to be one of this year’s hit movies.
Stanley also served as an executive producer on Saint John of Las Vegas, Olive
Productions first co-production and will next be directing the indie comic drama The
Hunter, starring Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore and Patricia Clarkson.
Earlier this year, Tucci made his Broadway directorial debut with a revival of Ken
Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor starring Tony Shalhoub. The production received a Tony
Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play.
In addition to his accomplishments in movies last year, Stanley was also
nominated for an Emmy® for his guest role as Dr. Moretti on “ER.” In 2007, his
appearance on “Monk,” received critical attention as well as an Emmy® Award in the
category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
In 2002 Tucci received critical acclaim for his work in DreamWorks’ Road to
Perdition, co-starring Tom Hanks, Jude Law and Paul Newman. The film directed by
Sam Mendes, was about a hit man who takes things personally after his wife and son
are murdered. Stanley was also seen in the ever-popular Disney comedy Big Trouble,
co-starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Tucci also
graced screens in Paramount Classics’ Sidewalks of New York, written and directed by
Edward Burns and Sony’s America’s Sweethearts, opposite Julia Roberts and Billy
Crystal. He also appeared alongside Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in the highly
acclaimed HBO drama, Conspiracy, a film for which Tucci earned both an Emmy® and
Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Made-for-TV-Movie or
Miniseries.
Tucci’s multiple talents have led to a very diverse career. Not only an
accomplished and gifted actor, he is also a writer, director and producer. At The
Sundance Film Festival in 2008, Stanley premiered the film Blind Date, which after
seven years, brought him once again behind the camera, as he has directed and cowrote, as well as starred in the Van Gogh remake of this film.
Another directorial effort was USA Films’ Joe Gould’s Secret, which starred Ian
Holm as bohemian writer ‘Joe Gould’ and Tucci as ‘Joseph Mitchell,’ the famed writer
for The New Yorker. The film, set in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1940s, tells
the story of the strange meeting and long lasting friendship between Gould and Mitchell,
as well as the stories Mitchell wrote about Gould and his life.
Big Night, Tucci’s first effort as co-director, co-screenwriter and actor on the
same film, earned him numerous accolades, including the Waldo Salt Screenwriting
Award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, a recognition of Excellence by the National
Board of Review, an Independent Spirit Award, The Critics Prize at the 1996 Deauville
Film Festival and honors from the New York Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film
Critics.
Tucci’s second project, The Imposters, a film which he wrote, directed, coproduced and starred, was an Official Selection at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and
was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures later that year. The 1930’s farce starred
Tucci and Oliver Platt as a pair of out-of-work actors who find themselves aboard a
cruise ship passengered by Steve Buscemi, Alfred Molina, Lili Taylor and Hope Davis.
Tucci’s previous film credits include Swing Vote, Kit Kitteredge: An American Girl,
Robots, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Shall We Dance, Spin, The Terminal, The
Tale of Despereaux, Deconstructing Harry, A Mid Summer Night’s Dream, The Alarmist,
A Life Less Ordinary, The Daytrippers, Kiss of Death, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious
Circle, It Could Happen to You, The Pelican Brief, Prelude to a Kiss, Billy Bathgate, In
the Soup and Slaves of New York.
In 2002, Stanley won a Golden Globe Award for his brilliant portrayal of Lt.
Colonel Adolf Eichmann in the television film entitled, Conspiracy. This was the
dramatic recreation of the Wannasee Conference where the Nazi Final Solution phase
of the Holocaust was devised. He also received a Golden Globe, as well as an Emmy®
Award for his portrayal of Walter Winchell, a founder of American gossip, in the HBO
original film, Winchell. His performance as the fast-talking tattler, whose exposure of
secrets and scandals turned politically-left audiences and critics alike singing his
praises. Winchell, directed by Paul Mazursky, provided Tucci with one of the juiciest
roles of his diverse career.
His work on television includes his appearance as a re-occurring guest star on
TNT’s “Bull.” He played ‘Hunter Lasky,’ a charming, conniving, power-player, one of
Wall Street’s best negotiation ‘sharks.’ His other television credits include appearances
on “Equal Justice,” “Wiseguy,” “The Equalizer,” “Thirtysomething” and “The Street.”
Tucci also starred as ‘Richard Cross’ in the Steven Bochco drama “Murder One,” a
performance for which he earned an Emmy® Nomination.
Tucci, no stranger to the theater, has appeared in many plays including Frankie
& Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Execution of Hope, The Iceman Cometh, Brighton
Beach Memoirs and The Misanthrope. He has also performed in a number of offBroadway plays, at Yale Repertory Theater and SUNY Purchase, where he first studied
acting.
Tucci resides in New York.
THE CREW
STEVEN ANTIN (Writer-Director) Filmmaker Steven Antin’s numerous talents
converge with his feature film directorial debut Burlesque, starring Christina Aguilera
and Cher, set for a November 2010 release by Sony / Screen Gems.
Antin developed Burlesque at Sony/Screen Gems for several years, writing the
script, choosing songs for the soundtrack, designing musical numbers, and actually
writing the lyrics to one of the film’s major songs, "But I'm a Good Girl". Having written
live burlesque shows earlier in his career, making the film was a natural progression.
Next for Antin is the feature film musical “Mash-Up” that he wrote and will direct,
currently in development at Walt Disney Studios.
Antin has directed several music videos for such acclaimed performers as The
Pussycat Dolls, Paul Van Dyke, and Girlicious.
He also executive produced the
successful reality series for The CW Network: “The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search
For The Next Doll.”
Originally from New York City, Antin moved to California as a child and was
discovered as an actor at the age of nine. Antin had memorable roles in several feature
films including Jonathan Kaplan’s The Accused, Richard Donner’s The Goonies, and
Boaz Davidson’s The Last American Virgin.
Antin also appeared as a recurring
character on “NYPD Blue” and was also nominated for an ACE award as Best Actor in a
Dramatic Series for the HBO telefilm “Vietnam War Story: The Last Days.”
Following a successful acting career, Antin shifted his focus to screenwriting and
producing. Inside Monkey Zetterland, which Antin wrote, co-produced and starred in,
was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Antin also
created and executive produced The WB series “Young Americans,” which launched
the careers of stars Kate Bosworth, Ian Somerhalder and Michelle Monaghan.
He currently resides in Los Angeles.
DONALD DE LINE (Producer) has, during his more than 20 years in the movie
business, collaborated with some of the industry’s biggest names on both sides of the
camera. His upcoming releases are Green Lantern, directed by Martin Campbell and
starring Ryan Reynolds, which brings the DC Comics classic character to the big screen
for the first time, and a live action/animated version of Yogi Bear. De Line’s most recent
film was director Zack Snyder’s animation debut, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of
Ga’Hoole, based on the beloved series of books by Kathryn Lasky.
Some of De Line’s prior films include John Hamburg’s hit comedy I Love You,
Man starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel; Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies, starring
Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe; and Observe and Report, starring Seth Rogen.
He scored his first major hit as a producer with the 2003 heist thriller The Italian Job,
starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, and Edward Norton.
Before his producing career, De Line spent 20 years as a top studio executive,
including President and Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures, and President of
Touchstone Pictures. During De Line’s tenure, Touchstone’s films grossed in excess of
$2.5 billion worldwide and garnered an impressive 24 Academy Award ® nominations.
Films produced under his regime included Pretty Woman; What About Bob?;
both Father of the Bride films; Ron Howard’s Ransom; the Oscar®-nominated biopic
What’s Love Got to Do With It; Wes Anderson’s first studio feature, Rushmore; Tim
Burton’s critically acclaimed Ed Wood; and the worldwide smash hit Armageddon.
STACY KOLKER CRAMER (Executive Producer) was formerly Senior Vice
President of Production at Sony Screen Gems. During her seven years there, she
oversaw the productions of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, starring Laura Linney, When a
Stranger Calls, directed by Simon West and starring Camilla Belle, Underworld, starring
Kate Beckinsale, You Got Served starring B2K and Breaking All the Rules, starring
Jamie Foxx. She also served as an Executive Producer on Screen Gems’ Vacancy and
First Sunday.
Prior to joining Screen Gems, she was a Vice President of Production at Foxbased Davis Entertainment. She started out in the entertainment business as a
publicist for Castle Rock Entertainment, where she worked on The American President,
starring Michael Douglas and The Shawshank Redemption, starring Morgan Freeman.
Cramer graduated cum laude from UCLA with a degree in Psychology.
RISA SHAPIRO (Executive Producer) began her career at The William Morris
Agency in New York in 1981. She helped discover and cultivate the careers of such
stars as Julia Roberts, Jennifer Connelly, Rosie O'Donnell, David Duchovny, Andie
MacDowell and many more. In 1991, Risa left William Morris to join International
Creative Management, where she continued to thrive as one of the most powerful
female agents in the industry. In 2008, she decided to pursue management and
production. As a manager, she continues to represent Cher, Jennifer Connelly, Heather
Graham, Steven McQueen, Richard Dreyfuss, Andie MacDowell and others. She co
financed Saw. Burlesque is her first film as executive producer.
BOJAN BAZELLI, ASC (Director of Photography) is one of the great image
makers working at the forefront of high profile, visually-progressive films today.
Before Burlesque, Bazelli lensed the Bruckheimer/Disney feature The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice, which hits theaters in March 2010. The live-action adaptation of the classic
Goethe poem-cum-Mickey-Mouse-cartoon stars Nicolas Cage, with Jon Turteltaub
directing.
Earlier films in Bazelli’s repertoire include blockbuster hits: Hairspray for director
Adam Shankman; Mr. and Mrs. Smith for director Doug Liman, starring Brad Pitt and
Angelina Jolie; and the spooky, foggy atmosphere of Gore Verbinski’s thriller The Ring,
as well as acclaimed independent films The Rapture, Deep Cover, King of New York,
Kalifornia and Dangerous Beauty, each of which displays a visual range and passion
matched by few.
Bazelli, a heady mix of American, Italian and Yugoslavian influences, approaches
his work with an open, creative mind. His introduction to photography began at age 7,
when his father took him into a projection room. The experience gave birth to a deep
curiosity, as he wondered how a projector could create such beautiful images on the
distant screen.
After high school, Bazelli trained at FAMU Film School in Prague. Impressed with
one of Bazelli’s student films, acclaimed director Abel Ferrara immediately offered him
the job of shooting China Girl in New York City. Bazelli leaped at the opportunity and
has lived in the United States ever since, rolling from one film to the next, challenging
himself with each new project.
The world of TV commercials and music videos embraced Bazelli and became
an avenue for experimentation.
Acknowledged for Best Cinematography in both 1996 and 1998 at the prestigious
American Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) show, Bazelli’s contribution to
shaping the evolution of the art and technique of the American television commercial is
profound. He is one of the few cinematographers to have received the honor twice,
since the event’s inception. Bazelli also took home a Gold Clio for Best Cinematography
in 1998 and the film Kalifornia took Best Cinematography at the Montreal Film Festival.
In 1990 he received an Independent Spirit nomination for his work on King of New York.
With a style simultaneously sensual and atmospheric, beautiful and gritty, Bazelli
keeps his creativity flowing with regular visits to galleries and by viewing as many films
as possible. He loves both the art world and the entertainment industry.
Bazelli lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.
JON GARY STEELE (Production Designer) is one of the most sought-after
production designers in film today. His ability to create sets that become characters
themselves has garnered him a sterling reputation in the world of film design.
Steele is responsible for the look of feature films such as Takers, Death at a
Funeral, Armored, Prom Night, Vacancy, When a Stranger Calls, Quarantine, Mama’s
Boy, The Onion Movie, Employee of the Month, Lonely Hearts, Mozart and the Whale,
The Dukes of Hazzard, Beauty Shop, The Sweetest Thing, The Glass House, One
Night at McCool’s, Takedown, Cruel Intentions, American History X, Dead Connection,
Dark Side of Genius, When the Party’s Over and The Runestone. He is also working on
the Paramount remake of Footloose.
For television, Steele’s credits include “R.U.S.H.,” “MDs,” “Sleep, Baby, Sleep”
and “Dead Silence.”
As art director, Steele worked on the films Beauty Shop and Warlock along with
“Roe vs. Wade” and “Capitol” for the small screen.
VIRGINIA KATZ, A.C.E. (Editor) won an Eddy from the American Cinema
Editors for her work on Bill Condon’s acclaimed musical Dreamgirls. Katz previously
collaborated with Condon on Kinsey, for which she received an Eddy nomination, and
Gods and Monsters.
Katz’s additional credits include the action film Fearless, for director Ronny Yu;
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, directed by Dan Ireland; and Her Majesty, directed by
Marc Gordon.
For the small screen, Katz has served as an editor on both telefilms and series.
Her television work includes “Alias” and “Felicity.”
BUCK DAMON (Music Supervisor) won a 2004 Grammy® Award, along
with Zach Braff and Amanda Scheer Demme, for creating the influential platinum hit
soundtrack for Garden State.
One of film’s most sought-after music supervisors, Damon’s recent credits
include The Proposal, 17 Again and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. In addition to Step
Up and Step Up 2 The Streets, among his additional films as music supervisor
are Blow, Knockaround Guys, Mean Girls, House of D, The Last Shot, Cheaper
by the Dozen 2, 27 Dresses and Premonition. He also served as music consultant
on The Rundown, Erin Brockovich, The Limey, She’s All That, Hurlyburly, Out of Sight,
Rounders and Life.
Damon has also worked as a music supervisor for television’s “Freaks and
Geeks.” He was also a music consultant on “The PJs” and “Felicity.”
CHRISTOPHE BECK (Music by) In an unprecedented short time span,
composer Christophe Beck has scored numerous films in virtually every genre. His
talent is evident in a wide-range of features from the classic teen comedy Bring It On
and the best-selling novel film adaptation Under The Tuscan Sun, to the highest
grossing R-rated comedy of all time, The Hangover. Beck's recent credits include What
Happens in Vegas, Fred Clause, License to Wed, Charlie Bartlett, The Seeker, Year of
the Dog, We Are Marshall, School for Scoundrels, The Pink Panther and The Pink
Panther 2, Post Grad, Hot Tub Time Machine, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The
Lightning Thief, Death at a Funeral, and Date Night.
Beck's road to film scoring was circuitous. The Montreal native started piano
lessons at five and by eleven he was writing music for his first-ever band, Chris and The
Cupcakes. During high school he studied flute, saxophone, trombone & drums, and
performed in rock bands.
While studying music at Yale, Beck had an epiphany: "I discovered my talent for
composing was far greater than my talent for performing." He wrote two musicals with
his brother Jason (a.k.a. Chilly Gonzales, the Berlin-based hip-hop recording artist), as
well as an opera based on The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.
Upon graduation from Yale in 1992, he moved to Los Angeles to attend USC's
prestigious film scoring program, where he studied with Jerry Goldsmith. Beck was
immediately attracted to the creative challenges unique to the marriage of music and
picture. A personal recommendation from the legendary Buddy Baker, head of the USC
Music Department, led to his first assignment for a Canadian TV series called White
Fang. Soon thereafter, he was asked to score a new TV series, Buffy, based on the
movie. Beck received the Emmy® for Outstanding Music Composition for his music to
Buffy. He decided to leave and pursue film work.
Beck was concerned about leaving television: "It was actually quite terrifying.
And things were slow during that first year, but I had faith in my abilities and it didn't take
too long for things to start rolling." Christophe Beck's attitude and unique talents set him
apart from many composers working today. "I pride myself on being very
accommodating to the needs of the film and its creators. Each score I write, I try to
make better than all the rest that have come before."
Chris’s work can be heard currently in Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for
Superman.
MICHAEL KAPLAN (Costume Designer) won a BAFTA Award for his costume
designs for Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking futuristic drama “Blade Runner.” Then, he set
off a fashion trend for an entire generation with his costume designs for his next film,
Adrian Lyne’s “Flashdance.”
In addition, he has been the costume designer of choice for director David
Fincher on the films Panic Room, Fight Club, The Game and Se7en as well as for
Michael Bay on Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. Kaplan also reunited with director
Ridley Scott to design the costumes for Matchstick Men. He also designed the
costumes for such films as Edward Norton’s directorial debut Keeping the Faith, Harold
Becker’s Malice and Taylor Hackford’s Against All Odds.
Kaplan more recently designed the costumes for Curtis Hanson’s Lucky You;
Doug Liman’s action-comedy hit Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie;
Michael Mann’s actioner Miami Vice, starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx; Francis
Lawrence's sci-fi thriller I Am Legend, starring Will Smith; and J.J. Abrams' blockbuster
Star Trek, which garnered Kaplan the third Costume Designers Guild Award nomination
of his career.
Michael Kaplan’s most recent designs can be seen in Jon Turtletaub’s The
Sorcerer's Apprentice, starring Nicolas Cage.
JULES FISHER and PEGGY EISENHAUER (Theatrical Lighting Designers),
considered the “gold standard” of their craft, have been honored with a combined
twenty-five Tony nominations, resulting in eight Tony Awards, the most recent for “Bring
in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins.”
They began their successful collaboration in 1985 on Bob Fosse’s “Big Deal.”
Since that time, they have created inventive lighting designs for over thirty Broadway
productions, including “Caroline, or Change,” “Ragtime,” “Victor/Victoria,” “Jane Eyre,”
“The Will Rogers Follies,” “Angels in America,” “Cabaret,” 2003’s “Gypsy” and the
critically acclaimed “Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life.” Their next project for the stage will
be the highly anticipated world debut of John Guare’s new play, “A Free Man of Color,”
starring Jeffrey Wright directed by George C. Wolfe opening at the Vivian Beaumont
Theater in November 2010.
Bringing their talents to the big screen, Fisher and Eisenhauer recently worked
on the Oscar winning film Dreamgirls, based on the original Broadway play and directed
by Bill Condon. For Dreamgirls, the team worked with Condon for over 6 months on
the14 musical numbers for that film including the spectacular ONE NIGHT ONLY,
STEPPIN’ TO THE BAD SIDE, and I AM CHANGING sequences. Prior to that, they
collaborated on the screen adaptation of the musical The Producers. They had
previously worked on Rob Marshall’s Academy Award®-winning musical Chicago,
integrating their theatrical style of stage lighting with film lighting in collaboration with
cinematographer Dion Beebe who was nominated for an Oscar for his work. Their
contribution to the finale of the comedy hit School of Rock drew upon their design
background in the music industry, in which Fisher was a pioneer through the 1960s and
’70s.
In the music industry, Fisher and Eisenhauer have, together, created spectacular
visuals and lighting for such talents as Whitney Houston (The Bodyguard World Tour
1993-94), The Rolling Stones (1975–76 World Tour), David Bowie (Diamond Dogs
World Tour), Linda Ronstadt (Canciones de Mi Padre American and Mexican Tours),
Neil Young (Harvest Moon American Tour, 1992), and the record-breaking Simon &
Garfunkel Reunion Concert in Central Park. For the Millennium celebration, Fisher and
Eisenhauer were brought in by producer Quincy Jones to design the all-star concert
production “America’s Millennium,” which was broadcast live on CBS. Additionally,
Eisenhauer also did the production and lighting design for Jonathan Demme’s rock film
“Neil Young Trunk Show.”
For Burlesque, they worked in tandem with director Steven Antin and
cinematographer Bojan Bazelli to seamlessly blend the theatrical and film lighting,
creating the unique visual environment that is The Burlesque Lounge.
“Oscar®” and “Academy Award®” are the registered trademarks and service marks of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“Emmy®” is the trademark property of ATAS/NATAS.
SCREEN GEMS PRESENTS
A DE LINE PICTURES PRODUCTION
A FILM BY STEVEN ANTIN
CHER
CHRISTINA AGUILERA
ERIC DANE
CAM GIGANDET
JULIANNE HOUGH
ALAN CUMMING
PETER GALLAGHER
WITH
AND
KRISTEN BELL
STANLEY TUCCI
DIANNA AGRON
GLYNN TURMAN
DAVID WALTON
TERRENCE JENKINS
CHELSEA TRAILLE
TANEE MCCALL
TYNE STECKLEIN
PAULA VAN OPPEN
CASTING BY
JOHN PAPSIDERA, CSA
COSTUME DESIGNER
MICHAEL KAPLAN
CHOREOGRAPHY BY
DENISE FAYE
JOEY PIZZI
EXECUTIVE MUSIC CONSULTANT
C. “TRICKY” STEWART
EXECUTIVE MUSIC PRODUCER
CHRISTINA AGUILERA
MUSIC SUPERVISOR
BUCK DAMON
MUSIC BY
CHRISTOPHE BECK
EDITED BY
VIRGINIA KATZ, A.C.E.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
JON GARY STEELE
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
BOJAN BAZELLI, ASC
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
DANA BELCASTRO
STACY KOLKER CRAMER
RISA SHAPIRO
PRODUCED BY
DONALD DE LINE
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY
STEVEN ANTIN
CAST
TESS
ALI
MARCUS
JACK
GEORGIA
ALEXIS
VINCE
NIKKI
SEAN
NATALIE
HAROLD SAINT
MARK THE DJ
DAVE
COCO
SCARLETT
JESSE
CHER
CHRISTINA AGUILERA
ERIC DANE
CAM GIGANDET
JULIANNE HOUGH
ALAN CUMMING
PETER GALLAGHER
KRISTEN BELL
STANLEY TUCCI
DIANNA AGRON
GLYNN TURMAN
DAVID WALTON
TERRENCE JENKINS
CHELSEA TRAILLE
TANEE MCCALL
TYNE STECKLEIN
ANNA
LORETTA
MR. ANDERSON
DWIGHT
PREACHER
ALI’S HOTEL MANAGER
GREG
MARLA
LOFT ASSISTANT
BRITTANY
PARTY GUEST AT MARCUS’ HOUSE
DITSY WAITRESS
CURLER WOMAN AT GRUNDY BUS STOP
CURLER WOMAN’S FRIEND
DAMON/BUMPER BAND MEMBER
JAMES/BUMPER BAND MEMBER
BUMPER BAND MEMBERS
MAIN DANCERS
BARTENDERS
CAN CAN DANCERS
CONTORTIONISTS
DANCERS
STUNT COORDINATORS
PAULA VAN OPPEN
ISABELLA HOFMANN
JAMES BROLIN
STEPHEN LEE
DENISE FAYE
BALDEEP SINGH
MICHAEL LANDES
WENDY BENSON
TISHA FRENCH
KATERINA MIKAILENKO
JAY LUCHS
KATELYNN TILLEY
GWEN VAN DAM
CATHERINE NATALE
JONATHON TRENT
BLAIR REDFORD
TAYLOR GRAVES
ADAM DRIGGS
ALVINO LEWIS
JIMMY R. O. SMITH
LEAH KATZ
MELANIE LEWIS
SARAH MITCHELL
TARA NICOLE HUGHES
AISHA FRANCIS
DEANNA WALTERS
LORIEL HENNINGTON
ROBERT KIRKLAND
ALFRED THOMAS
SEAN VAN DER WILT
COREY ANDERSON
TIMOR STEFFENS
JAQUEL KNIGHT
SAMANTHA ABRANTES
SAMANTHA LEE
MICHELLE BROOKE
JAMIE LEE RUIZ
VIKTORIA SHVARTSMAN
SHANNON BEACH
JESKILZ
JENNY ROBINSON
TALIA-LYNN PRAIRIE
MEREDITH OSTROWSKY
KATRINA NORMAN
MICKI DURAN
ASHLEY ASHIDA DIXON
RACHELE BROOKE SMITH
TIANA BROWN
JERSEY MANISCALCO
ALLISON KYLER
AUDRA GRIFFIS
JACQUELYN DOWSETT
CHAD RANDALL
HEATHER M. LA BELLA
JEFF CADIENTE
JAMES HALTY
DINA MARGOLIN
DUSTIN MEIER
MATT TAYLOR
TROY GILBERT
STUNTS
ALLISON CAETANO
CODY GILBERT
CHUCK HOSACK
JOHN MEIER
ERIK RONDELL
SCOTT WILDER
UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER
BUDDY ENRIGHT
FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
GEOFF HANSEN
SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
LIGHTING DESIGN BY
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHERS
ART DIRECTOR
SET DECORATOR
PROPERTY MASTER
SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
“A” CAMERA OPERATOR
“B ” CAMERA OPERATOR
“C ” CAMERA OPERATOR
“D” CAMERA OPERATOR
“A” CAMERA FIRST ASSISTANT
“ B” CAMERA FIRST ASSISTANT
“C ” CAMERA FIRST ASSISTANT
“D” CAMERA FIRST ASSISTANT
“A” CAMERA SECOND ASSISTANT
“B ” CAMERA SECOND ASSISTANT
“C ” CAMERA SECOND ASSISTANT
LOADER
ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER
COSTUME SUPERVISOR
KEY COSTUMERS
COSTUMER FOR MS. AGUILERA
COSTUMER FOR CHER
COSTUMERS
ROSEMARY CREMONA
JULES FISHER & PEGGY EISENHAUER
GEOFF HANSEN
BOJAN BAZELLI
AISHA FRANCIS
TARA NICOLE HUGHES
JAQUEL KNIGHT
MELANIE LEWIS
CHRIS CORNWELL
DENA ROTH
ELLEN FREUND
WILMA GARSCADDEN-GAHRET
PATRICK LOUNGWAY
COLIN HUDSON
CHRIS MOSELEY
PAUL SANCHEZ
JOHN HOLMES
JOHN SZAJNER
ERIC LAUDADIO
BRAD PETERMAN
MARK CONNELLY
RANDALL STONE
MATTHEW C. BLEA
MICHAEL YAEGER
STACY CABALLERO
LYNDA FOOTE
WILLIAM A. CAMPBELL
JO KISSACK FOLSOM
MITZI HARALSON
ROSE MARIE C. CAPPELLUTI
MICHAEL CROW
JULIE LAURITZEN
BRENDA WARE
MAKEUP DEPARTMENT HEAD
KEY MAKEUP ARTIST
MAKEUP ARTIST FOR CHER
MAKEUP ARTIST FOR MS. AGUILERA
MAKEUP ARTIST FOR MS. BELL
MAKEUP ARTISTS
HAIR DEPARTMENT HEAD
HAIR STYLIST FOR CHER
HAIR STYLIST FOR MS. AGUILERA
HAIR STYLISTS
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTORS
SET DESIGNERS
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
STORYBOARD ARTIST
ART DEPARTMENT COORDINATOR
LEADMAN
GANGBOSS
SET DRESSERS
ON-SET DRESSER
DRAPERY FOREMAN
CHIEF LIGHTING TECHNICIAN
ASSISTANT CHIEF LIGHTING TECHNICIAN
LIGHTING CONSOLE PROGRAMMER
RIGGING GAFFER
RIGGING BEST BOY
AUTOMATED THEATRICAL
LIGHTING AND CONTROL BY
THEATRICAL LIGHTING SUPERVISORS
THEATRICAL LIGHTING GAFFER
THEATRICAL LIGHTING BEST BOY
THEATRICAL STAGE SUPERVISORS
KEY GRIP
BEST BOY GRIP
DOLLY GRIPS
RIGGING KEY GRIP
RIGGING BEST BOY GRIP
CINDY WILLIAMS
AMY SCHMIEDERER
LEONARD ENGELMAN
KRISTOFER BUCKLE
SIMONE ALMEKIAS-SIEGL
PETER DE OLIVEIRA
SABINE ROLLER TAYLOR
KEVIN WESTMORE
MARTIN SAMUEL
MARIA SEVENELLA RADAELLI
FRIDA ARADOTTIR
NATASHA ALLEGRO
BARBARA CANTU
JASMINE KIMBLE
VICKIE MYNES
CHARLIE CAMPBELL
AL LEWIS
PATTE STRONG-LORD
JIM TOCCI
TREY SHAFFER
JEFF ERRICO
CANDICE MURIEDAS
JOHN NAEHRLICH
BROCK HELFER
JAMIE BOYCE
PAUL CUNNINGHAM
KEVAN WEBER
JON NICHOLSON
JAY SMITH
ANTHONY G. NAKONECHNYJ
STEPHEN THORP
BRYAN BOOTH
SCOTT GRAVES
GREG LOPEZ
PRG
DAVID DAVIDIAN
HARRY SANGMEISTER
RICHARD MORTELL
BILL GREENBERG
ROBERT WITHEROW
KRISTIN NEWHOUSE
JOSEPH DIANDA
RICHARD J. BOYLE
BRAD REA
DWAYNE BARR
CHRIS LEIDHOLDT
JUSTIN BABIN
PRODUCTION MIXER
BOOM OPERATOR
VIDEO ASSIST
MUSIC PLAYBACK
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
ASSISTANT PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
PRODUCTION SECRETARY
PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANT
ASSISTANT ACCOUNTANT
PAYROLL ACCOUNTANT
LOCATION MANAGERS
ASSISTANT LOCATION MANAGERS
SPECIAL EFFECTS SUPERVISORS
SPECIAL EFFECTS COORDINATORS
CONSTRUCTION COORDINATOR
LEAD PAINTER
GENERAL FOREMAN
LABOR FOREMAN
HEAD PLASTERER
GREENS SUPERVISOR
PAINT FOREMAN
WELDER FOREMAN
PLASTERER FOREMAN
ASSISTANT PROPERTY MASTERS
UNIT PUBLICIST
STILL PHOTOGRAPHER
ADDITIONAL STILL PHOTOGRAPHY
DAVID R. B. MACMILLAN C.A. S.
PERRY DODGSON
DAVID KATZ
CHET LEONARD
KATE KELLY
SALLY JEAN POTTERS
NICOLE MARIE MUMEY
TERRI GREENING
CLAIRE CHANDOU
CECILIA ESCOBAR
DOUGLAS DRESSER
BRIAN O’NEILL
SNAPPY OLIVER
MARTIN J. CUMMINS
JOHN FRAZIER
TOMMY FRAZIER
RICHARD O. HELMER
JEFF WISCHNACK
DAVID ELLIOTT
DAVID GOLDSTEIN
STEVE POWELL
THOMAS GIBSON
JAY DUPUY
CYNTHIA MARTINEZ
JOHN HINKLE
ALFONSO DIAZ
LANCE NIELSEN
JAMES KRONING
JOHNNY YOUNGBLOOD
WILLIAM CASEY
STEPHEN VAUGHAN
WILLA MAMET
2ND SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
STEPHEN W. MOORE
DGA TRAINEE
LISA ZUGSCHWERDT
ASSISTANT TO MR. ANTIN
DAVE GOLDBERG
ASSISTANT TO MR. DE LINE
MATT GAMBOA
ASSISTANT TO MS. BELCASTRO
EDWARD VOCCOLA
ASSISTANT TO CHER
JENNIFER RUIZ
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
JOSHUA STUART
JAMES BLAND
MOLLIE STALLMAN
PATRICK HOLLON
MICHAEL SERRANO
ALEXA BRUGGER
MATTHEW SAKATA
BIZ MAHER
CASTING ASSOCIATE
EXTRAS CASTING
JENNIFER CRAM
CENTRAL CASTING
CRAFT SERVICE
CATERER
TRANSPORTATION CAPTAIN
TRANSPORTATION CO-CAPTAIN
CHARLIE E. SCOTT, JR.
CHARLIE E. SCOTT III
GALA CATERING
DANIEL BRIZENDINE
JAYSON EHLERS
POST PRODUCTION
ASSISTANT EDITOR
IAN SLATER
MUSICAL SEQUENCES EDITED BY
DAVID CHECEL
APPRENTICE EDITOR
JOEY AMRON
RE-RECORDING MIXERS
SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR
SOUND EFFECTS EDITOR
ASSISTANT SOUND EDITORS
DIALOGUE EDITOR
SUPERVISING ADR EDITOR
ADR EDITOR
FOLEY EDITOR
FOLEY ARTISTS
FOLEY MIXER
ADR MIXER
VOICE CASTING
POST SOUND SERVICES PROVIDED BY
ANDY KOYAMA
CHRIS CARPENTER
BILL W. BENTON
RICHARD YAWN, MPSE
BERNARD WEISER, MPSE
ERYNE PRINE
RYAN JUGGLER
JULIE FEINER
ROBERT ULRICH, MPSE
ROBERT TROY
SOLANGE S. SCHWALBE, MPSE
SARAH MONAT
ROBIN HARLAN
RANDY K. SINGER
DAVID A. WEISBERG
RANJANI BROW
WENDY HOFFMANN
SONY PICTURES STUDIOS
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA
SUPERVISING MUSIC EDITOR
ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR
MUSIC CONSULTANT
MUSIC COORDINATOR
SONG MIX ENGINEER
TODD BOZUNG
JACLYN NEWMAN
JIM BLACK
AYIKO CARMICHAEL
FRANK WOLF
SCORE CONDUCTED BY
SCORE RECORDED AND MIXED BY
ORCHESTRATIONS BY
MUSIC PREPARATION BY
PETE ANTHONY
STEVE KAPLAN
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE
MARK GRAHAM
TITLES BY
DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE BY
DIGITAL COLORIST
VISUAL EFFECTS BY
VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCER
PICTURE MILL
COLORWORKS
TRENT JOHNSON
ZOIC STUDIOS
RAOUL YORKE BOLOGNINI
VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR
VISUAL EFFECTS COORDINATOR
2D/COMP ARTISTS
3D ARTIST
ROCCO PASSIONINO
ANDREW COX
FUMI MASHIMO
PHILLIP BROSTE
RISTRA FAJARWATY
SARAH GROSSMANN
STEVE WILSON
WADE IVY
LOCHLON JOHNSTON
FILMED IN PART AT SONY PICTURES STUDIOS
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA
SOUNDTRACK ON RCA RECORDS
MUSIC
MAKIN’ PLANS
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY MIRANDA LAMBERT
COURTESY OF COLUMBIA NASHVILLE
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH SONY MUSIC LICENSING
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (FROM BURLESQUE)
WRITTEN BY MARILYN MANSON , TWIGGY RAMIREZ,
RON FAIR, ESTER DEAN , STEFANIE RIDEL ,
TOMMY LEE JAMES, NICOLE SCHERZINGER,
LAURA PERGOLIZZI, MELVIN K. WATSON, JR.
AND LARRY SUMMERVILLE, JR.
PRODUCED BY RON FAIR & THE PHANTOM BOYZ
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
COURTESY OF RCA RECORDS
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH SONY MUSIC LICENSING
CONTAINS A SAMPLE OF “THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ”
PERFORMED BY MARILYN MANSON
COURTESY OF INTERSCOPE RECORDS
UNDER LICENSE FROM UNIVERSAL MUSIC ENTERPRISES
DON’T TOUCH
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS
AND THE FIRESIDE ORCHESTRA
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
POOR BOYS BLUES
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS
AND THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS ORCHESTRA
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
VERDI MART SHUFFLE
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS
AND THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS ORCHESTRA
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
BLACK BOTTOM STOMP
WRITTEN BY FERDINAND “JELLY ROLL” MORTON
PERFORMED BY WYNTON MARSALIS
COURTESY OF COLUMBIA RECORDS
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH SONY MUSIC LICENSING
LONG JOHN BLUES
WRITTEN BY TOMMY GEORGE
PRODUCED BY STEVE LINDSEY
PERFORMED BY MEGAN MULLALLY
WELCOME TO BURLESQUE (TANGO)
WRITTEN BY CHARLIE MIDNIGHT,
MATTHEW GERRARD AND STEVE LINDSEY
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
SOMETHING’S GOT A HOLD ON ME
WRITTEN BY ETTA JAMES ,
LEROY KIRKLAND AND PEARL WOODS
PRODUCED BY C. “TRICKY” STEWART
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
WELCOME TO BURLESQUE (INSTRUMENTAL)
WRITTEN BY CHARLIE MIDNIGHT,
MATTHEW GERRARD AND STEVE LINDSEY
PRODUCED BY STEVE LINDSEY
MY DRAG
WRITTEN BY ANDREW BIRD AND JAMES MATHUS
PRODUCED BY STEVE LINDSEY
WELCOME TO BURLESQUE
WRITTEN BY CHARLIE MIDNIGHT, MATTHEW GERRARD,
STEVE LINDSEY AND JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
PRODUCED BY STEVE LINDSEY & MATTHEW GERRARD
VOCAL PRODUCTION BY MARK TAYLOR
PERFORMED BY CHER
CHER APPEARS COURTESY OF
WARNER BROS. RECORDS INC.
THAT FASCINATING THING
WRITTEN BY JAMES MATHUS
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS
AND THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS ORCHESTRA
DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND
(SWING CATS MIX)
WRITTEN BY LEO ROBIN AND JULE STYNE
PERFORMED BY MARILYN MONROE AND JANE RUSSELL
COURTESY OF CLEOPATRA RECORDS, INC.
AND COURTESY OF
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION
USED WITH PERMISSION FROM MARILYN MONROE LLC
OUTRO PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
CURLY’S BLUES
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS
AND THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS ORCHESTRA
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
NASTY NAUGHTY BOY
PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND
THE PETROJVIC BLASTING COMPANY ORCHESTRA
WAGON WHEEL WATUSI
COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY ELMER BERNSTEIN
COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES , INC.
UNDER LICENSE FROM SONY PICTURES MUSIC GROUP
NEW ORLEANS BUMP
WRITTEN BY FERDINAND “JELLY ROLL” MORTON
PERFORMED BY WYNTON MARSALIS
COURTESY OF COLUMBIA RECORDS
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH SONY MUSIC LICENSING
TOUGH LOVER
WRITTEN BY ETTA JAMES AND JOE JOSEA
PERFORMED BY ETTA JAMES
COURTESY OF VIRGIN RECORDS AMERICA
UNDER LICENSE FROM EMI FILM & TELEVISION MUSIC
SUITS ARE PICKING UP THE BILL
WRITTEN BY JAMES MATHUS
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS
AND THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS ORCHESTRA
GUY WHAT TAKES HIS TIME
WRITTEN BY RALPH RAINGER
PRODUCED BY LINDA PERRY
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
KNOCK YOU DOWN
WRITTEN BY NATE “DANJA” HILLS, MARCELLA ARAICA,
KEVIN COSSOM, KERI HILSON , SHAFFER SMITH
AND KANYE WEST
PERFORMED BY KERI HILSON
COURTESY OF MOSLEY MUSIC/INTERSCOPE RECORDS
UNDER LICENSE FROM UNIVERSAL MUSIC ENTERPRISES
JUNGLE BERLIN
WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY JOEY ALTRUDA
YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE LAST OF ME
WRITTEN BY DIANE WARREN
PRODUCED BY MATT SERLETIC
ADDITIONAL VOCAL PRODUCTION BY MARK TAYLOR
PERFORMED BY CHER
CHER APPEARS COURTESY OF
WRITTEN BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA AND LINDA PERRY
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
COURTESY OF THE RCA RECORDS LABEL
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH SONY MUSIC LICENSING
RAY OF LIGHT
WRITTEN BY MADONNA, DAVE CURTISS , CLIVE MALDOON ,
CHRISTINE LEACH AND WILLIAM ORBIT
PERFORMED BY MADONNA
COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. RECORDS INC.
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH
WARNER MUSIC GROUP FILM & TV LICENSING
GUY WHAT TAKES HIS TIME (INSTRUMENTAL)
WRITTEN BY RALPH RAINGER
PRODUCED BY LINDA PERRY
TOUGH LOVER
WRITTEN BY ETTA JAMES AND JOE JOSEA
PRODUCED BY C. “TRICKY ” STEWART
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
BUT I AM A GOOD GIRL (FROM BURLESQUE)
WRITTEN BY JACQUES MORALI ,
ALAIN BERNARDIN AND STEVEN ANTIN
PRODUCED BY C. “TRICKY ” STEWART
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
ANIMAL
WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER ALLEN, BRANDEN CAMPBELL ,
ELAINE DOTY, TYLER GLENN AND TIMOTHY PAGNOTTA
PERFORMED BY NEON TREES
COURTESY OF THE ISLAND DEF JAM MUSIC GROUP
UNDER LICENSE FROM UNIVERSAL MUSIC ENTERPRISES
EXPRESS
WRITTEN BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA ,
C. “TRICKY ” STEWART AND CLAUDE KELLY
PRODUCED BY C. “TRICKY ” STEWART
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
FOREVER YOUNG
WRITTEN BY MARIAN GOLD,
FRANK MERTENS AND BERNHARD LLOYD
WARNER BROS. RECORDS INC.
HOT STUFF
WRITTEN BY PETER BELLOTTE,
KEITH FORSEY AND HAROLD FALTERMEIER
PERFORMED BY DONNA SUMMER
COURTESY OF THE ISLAND DEF JAM MUSIC GROUP
UNDER LICENSE FROM UNIVERSAL MUSIC ENTERPRISES
I MELT WITH YOU
WRITTEN BY ROBERT JAMES GREY,
STEPHEN JAMES WALKER , MICHAEL FRANCES CONROY,
GARY FRANCES MCDOWELL AND RICHARD IAN BROWN
PERFORMED BY MODERN ENGLISH
COURTESY OF 4AD LIMITED
BOUND TO YOU
WRITTEN BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA,
SAMUEL DIXON AND SIA FURLER
PRODUCED BY SAMUEL DIXON
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
SHOW ME HOW YOU BURLESQUE
WRITTEN BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA,
C. “TRICKY ” STEWART AND CLAUDE KELLY
PRODUCED BY C. “TRICKY ” STEWART
PERFORMED BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA APPEARS COURTESY OF
RCA RECORDS, A UNIT OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
PERFORMED BY ALPHAVILLE
COURTESY OF WARNER MUSIC GERMANY GMBH
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH
WARNER MUSIC GROUP FILM & TV LICENSING
DANKE SCHOEN
WRITTEN BY BERT KAEMPFERT,
MILT GABLER AND KURT SCHWABACH
PERFORMED BY WAYNE NEWTON
COURTESY OF CAPITOL RECORDS
UNDER LICENSE FROM EMI FILM & TELEVISION MUSIC
MORE THAN A FEELING
WRITTEN BY TOM SCHOLZ
PERFORMED BY BOSTON
COURTESY OF EPIC RECORDS
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH SONY MUSIC LICENSING
FADE INTO YOU
WRITTEN BY HOPE SANDOVAL AND DAVID ROBACK
PERFORMED BY MAZZY STAR
COURTESY OF CAPITOL RECORDS
UNDER LICENSE FROM EMI FILM & TELEVISION MUSIC
SITTING PRETTY
WRITTEN BY FRED EBB AND JOHN KANDER
PRODUCED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS AND CHRISTOPHER THORN
PERFORMED BY CHRIS PHILLIPS
AND THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS ORCHESTRA
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